Harry Potter and the Barrier of Punishment
by The Nori of the Universe
Summary: Voldemort is back, and him and Harry will meet again... but this time, there is an additon to the good side. A Canadian orphan plays an important part in the new battle.
1. Harry Potter and the Barrier of Punishme...

Credits: All the references to Harry Potter, the world of Hogwarts and the magical community are J.K. Rowling's. All the rest are mine. 

Author's note: To all of those who read my *fic* yesterday, well, I guess you could tell it was kind of a mistake, and just try to forget about that one and read this one. Also review. PLEASE!!!!!! 

Chapter 1 

Harry Potter fell once again into the dream. Struggling was of no use. Wormtail, Voldemort's right-hand man, had just released Harry from his bonds to the tombstone of Voldemort's father, and Lord Voldemort, Harry's evil nemesis, had risen slowly from the cauldron, renewed. Harry knew, with dreadful certainty, what would happen next. Out would come the wand and he'd have to dodge the killing spells, the torturing, and the- wait. This time it was different. A young girl came out from behind the tombstone Harry had been tied, helpless, to. Her wand, a peculiar light green, moved and-   
TAP, TAP.   
"Wha-?" Harry muttered. He reached for his glasses, smoothed his black hair from his face, and got up, moving toward the window where Hedwig, his owl, waited.   
The nightmare still haunted Harry's mind, but it was temporarily removed by the address he saw on the parchment. Hedwig gave a "your welcome" sort of click and moved to her cage, ready for a nap. Harry, still not fully awake, opened the folded parchment and yawned. 

_Dear Mr. Potter,_   
_ I hope this letter finds you well, and that you are in no immediate danger. I am sorry to say the following, but in light of Voldemort's arrival, we of course must take necessary precautions, which means that,_   
(Harry felt a slight sense of foreboding)   
_ which means that all Hogwarts staff and students must arrive at Hogwarts no later than August 5, instead of the usual time in September._   
_ We hope this has caused no inconvenience, and that you will make haste toward our reasonably safe school, which has enlisted the help of several Aurors and dragons to help. Enclosed you will find the necessary course books in addition to optional cautionary devices designed to keep your well-being in the school._

_ Sincerely,_   
**_ Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts_**

Curious, Harry opened the next piece of parchment. It contained the following:   


  * The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5_ by Miranda Goshawk_
  * Charms and Hexes for the Defensively Advanced _by Stewart Trimble_
  * Advanced Transfiguration: Harmful to Harmless _by B.Z. Hardshall_
  * Sightseeing into the Future: What the Future will Bring_ by Lorenza Hokranky_
  * Defensive Strategies for the Arts_ by Quirk Skuria_
  * Meddling with Magic: The Worst that can Happen _by Parania Corwady_

- Sneakoscope (can be pocket or full-size)   
- Pendant on silver chain (pendant either circle, hexagon, or rod shaped)   
- See-through light (green level preferably) 

Just as Harry was thinking ruefully that he didn't need to worry about the Sneakoscope, since he already had one, Uncle Vernon's furious voice came barging into his thoughts.   
"Don't you come near me! Get off my phone!Call the authorities, Petunia!!" _Probably arguing with a wrong number,_thought Harry.****He sighed and began to get dressed. This summer had been the same as all the others. Harry had hoped that that maybe his relatives, the Dursleys, would at least act civilly in his presence, considering that last year, he'd escaped Lord Voldemort yet again, and paying with the life of a fellow schoolmate, Cedric Diggory, during the Triwizard Tournament. He had been wrong, there had been no change at all. Harry supposed it hadn't helped at all that one morning, he had come downstairs and had found himself to be looking down into Uncle Vernon's purple, squashy face. Well, it hadn't been his fault that he'd grown. No reason for Uncle Vernon to spluttering into the living room, where the sight of the renovations from last year didn't help at all. Or that Pig, Ron's owl, had accidentally flown into Dudley's room and created havoc in there.   
That letter Pig had carried had been only the sixth, in total, that he'd had from his best friends, Hermione and Ron, with a few from Hagrid, Hogwarts' gamekeeper, all summer long. He hadn't felt like this since his second year, when he'd found that Dobby the house elf had been keeping his letters away from him.   
At least, this time, Harry knew what was happening. Taking Hermione's advice, he'd subscribed to the _Daily Prophet_, the wizarding newspaper, and he'd found out that letters were being carefully monitored, in case Voldemort intercepted one and it contained information that he would benefit from. Now it seemed that Dumbledore was getting paranoid, too, judging by the school letter.   
Harry sighed again and went down to breakfast.   
* * * 

Nirry woke up, sweating and coughing. _What was that smell?_ she wondered. Outside, she could hear shrill whinnies and high-pitched laughter that sent chills down her spine. The horses! She slipped on some shoes and ran down the stairs, where she could see the faint outline of a strange, tall man in black robes, silhouetted against the burning barn. Nirry gasped. Shadows of horses raced around, trying to escape.   
Then, the man turned. He grinned maniacly, and Nirry could see his red pupils vibrating. She stood stock-still for a second, and saw the man's long fingers reach inside his robes and withdraw a long stick of wood.   
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" he roared, but Nirry was already on her way. As she ran, she could feel something besides her own hair graze her face. She reached one of the horses lightning fast, and hauled herself on somehow, trying to see through the fog that engulfed her mind. She dug her heels in the horses' side, at the same time looking back and gripping a slippery handful of mane. The man, or whatever he was, gave a dismissive laugh and turned into the havoc, yelling to other robed figures in the early morning dusk.As Nirry dimly glimpsed the burning barn, she could see the evil silhouette of the man disappear from view.  
Nirry hoped it was a dream, all of it, because no normal person would actually disappear. It felt real enough, though, while she galloped along, the horse's fear adding to it's speed. She realized she was sobbing, terrified, but all she could focus on was one thing: _getting away from the man._   
Near dawn, the horse collapsed. Nirry fell, still shaking, cold sweat on her forehead. She realized that she was near the city of Ottawa in Canada, her hometown, not far from the horse stables she stayed at during the summer when she got out of the orphanage's school.  
"Calm down," she said, partly to the horse, who lay, splay-legged, on the ground, and partly to herself. The poor horse's side was still heaving, with rivulets of water running down the sides.   
Now that Nirry was far from the man at the barn, she felt calmer. She couldn't have put her finger on it, but there had been some sense of terror, deep inside, that she had gotten while in contact with the man.   
She wondered what was happening to her. Lately, she thought she was going insane. At the oddest moments, she would point to an object and say bizarre words like, "_Wingardium Leviosa_," or "_Accio_." It frightened her. Even more than that, sometimes she even thought the object would move. Maybe she was hallucinating, too. Or she would stare at the photographs of her dead parents and wonder fleetingly why they weren't waving at her in the picture. And, most recently, she had opened a chocolate bar and subconsciously looked for a card.   
Nirry shook her head. "Insane," she muttered. She got up, brushing leaves from her butt and coaxing the dozing horse next to her to stand up.   



	2. Harry Potter and the Barrier of Punishme...

Credits: All the references to Harry Potter, the world of Hogwarts and the magical community are J.K. Rowling's. All the rest   
are mine. 

Author's note: Hey guys, thank you soo much for the reviews, and also for not making me feel bad about the, um little "mix up". Geez, I still can't get over that. Anyway, review this and read! Or read and then review. Just- just read and stay tuned for more! 

Chapter 2 

The Dursleys sat silently in the living room, lips pursed and, in Dudley's case, hands clutched over both bottom and mouth. It was the scene much like last year, when the Weasleys had come to pick Harry up by Floo Powder. Of course, the Dursleys had boarded up their normal fireplace and were using an electrical fire. The repairman who came to fix it over Halloween had said that it would be easier to just convert it back to a normal fireplace, but Uncle Vernon had refused. Perhaps he feared another letter avalanche that Harry had been forced to recieve for his first year, since his relatives were against him learning magic, and tried to stop him from getting the Hogwarts invitation letter to the school.   
This year, though, there were no letters, and they were all waiting for the Weasleys to pick Harry up. Nervously, Uncle Vernon got up, took a peek from the window, and said in a low snarl that meant he had not yet lost his temper, "When and if they come, boy, they'll have no intervention with **my** family!"   
Harry made no response, and just stared out the window in deep thought. He was thinking about his dreams the past months, and the most recent ones which included the girl. It would have made sense if he'd dreamed of someone he knew, like Cho Chang, or Fleur Delacour, but this girl was a stranger to him. He tried to get her out of his mind, and prayed that the Weasleys would come quickly. Maybe they'd cause the distraction he needed. At least he was going to school, where there were no Dursleys and no more Dudley, at least for the year. Harry, cheered up slightly by this, heard a sudden knock at the door and could hear muffled talking.   
Uncle Vernon hurried into the kitchen, followed by Aunt Petunia and Dudley, who was wimpering, no doubt about what would happen if one of the Weasleys caught sight of him. Harry sighed, got up and opened the door. Standing there was one of the best sights in the world; Mr. Weasley standing on the step and Ron, Hermione, Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, Fred, and George's faces stuck out the window of their new car. Harry beamed so widely he was sure his face was splitting in half from relief. 

Then he remembered the Dursleys. He hastily grabbed his trunk and Hedwig's empty cage (she was still out, hunting), and with a little help from the twins, lugged it into the trunk of their new Muggle car, a Montana van. Harry noticed there were no "magical expansions" on this one. Mrs. Weasley must have persuaded her husband not to tinker with it. But, looking at Mr. Weasleys haggard face, he sympathized and realized it was probably from overworking.   
"Fred and George Weasley! Don't you dare go in there! The poor boy's got enough to worry about than another Ton-Tongue Toffee! And don't leave _any _trick wands, do you hear?" Mrs. Weasley's voice sounded sharp, and Harry looked at the twins, who were grinning innocently and inching slowly toward the open door.   
"No wands? Well, we can manage, we'll just leave a new Snapper-" George began but was cut off by his mother.   
"I said _nothing_! And I don't want to hear about any new Snapper-Pops and Jumping Dust Bunnies! Get into the car, all of you! Oh, and hello, Harry, nice to see you," she continued in a softer tone of voice.   
Harry smiled back at her, then turned to Ron and Hermione, who were settling into their seats. "What are Snapper-Pops and Jumping Dust Bunnies?"   
They both grinned, and Harry noted their appearances. Ron's face was less frecklier than usual, and Hermione's front teeth were much reduced, a relic from last year, but other than that, they looked the same as Harry remembered them.   
"Well, they got their joke shop up, it's in Hogsmeade and they've invented loads of new stuff, really cool, and they've been bringing home samples to try out on us. Percy was home one time and they put a Dust Bunny under his bed and kept him awake all night long-" said Ron, beginning to laugh. Hermione looked disapproving.   
"Ron, they didn't keep him up all night, did they?"   
"Yes, Ron, they didn't keep him up all- ow!" Harry's imitation was cut short by a pelting of tissues from Hermione. One of them hit Ron. Fred and Ginny looked back to see the commotion, and were soon in the midst of an all-out tissue and paper fight, which went on till Mr. Weasley nearly rammed into a telephone pole because he couldn't see out the window. 

* * *

Nirry hung up the phone, shaking hard. The phone line had been dead, and now she would have to walk all the way back and observe the damage to her barn. No one had answered the cell number, either. She hoped nothing had happened to Mrs. Kisler, the head instructor, or Tris, the stable hand. Her mind called up the image of the man's bizarre disappearance, but she shook it away.   
She went out of the telephone booth and sighed, rubbing Cinamonne's (the horse's) head. Poor horse- she would probably have to go back to the barn with her…  
"What should I do?" she asked. Then, "Duh, start walking, Nirry, aren't you smart today." She started walking toward the ridge she had left Cinamonne to graze on.   
"Let me see here... and that's gotta be the Muggle contraption Dumbledore was talkin' about." A man's delighted growl of a voice reached her ears, and she saw a gigantic shadow splayed across the sidewalk. Nirry turned, curious. A second later, she had her mouth wide open. A large, huge, gigantic man stood there, his beetle-black eyes staring at her, his mouth curled into a smile, and his tangled, rough beard mingling with the nest of hair on his head.   
"Yer don't happen to know a person named , ah, Nirry, do yer, ma'am?" the giant asked her. Nirry felt her eyebrows go up. Whoever this man was, he was looking for her. She didn't know anyone else by the name of Nirry in this neighborhood. Uncertainly, she opened her mouth.   
"Um, um, well, that's me," she said, wondering if that was the right thing to do. The man grinned so hugely she thought for a second his lips would split apart.   
"Nirry! So yer Nirry! I've come to deliver a message to you, here it is..." he reached into his overcoat, which was at least three times as large as Nirry, and withdrew a folded piece of paper. 

_ Dear Ms. Rennee Grath_   
_ I am very pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We are sorry to inconvenience you, but we were busy at the time and somehow could not get your letter delivered to you at the normal age of 11. We hope you have learned the necessary requirements for a year 5 student, and trust you'll get to Hogwarts by train at King's Cross this year no later than August 5. All your books and school materials have been purchased for you in advance, but we advice you to buy a wand, cauldron, and pet in Diagon Alley, along with various amulets you will need for the upcoming year which has an added danger._   
_ Sincerely,_   
_ Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

Nirry's mind had filled with a blank sort of buzzing. She stared dumbfounded at the man, who had been watching her read her letter.   
"Is this a joke?" she asked uncertainly.   
The giant shook his head. "We'd best get yer ter Diagon Alley, I'll explain things best's I can on the way." The giant gave a furtive glance to the right, where the suns' first rays of light were just coming up from the horizon, and took out a bag with a greenish powdery substace in it. "Let's get ter a fireplace, Nirry. Got ter get yer stuff in Diagon Alley. Maybe we'd even get ter meet some friends before yer get ter Hogwarts. Know just the ones, too."   
Nirry stood, trying to grasp this all, the letter, the giant, and everything… what in the world was Hogwarts? If she was going to this Diagon Alley thing, what would happen to the barn? And Cinamonne? "Um, sorry, but what's you're name? and what's going on?"   
The giant was already walking to the old deserted inn, where there where rooms being renovated. Nirry stumbled, trying to keep up.   
"Oh yeah, sorry 'bout that, haven't had to do this in years, not since Harry... anyway, my name's Hagrid, gamekeeper and Care of Magical Creatures at Hogwarts. Now, we've got ter hurry, if we want to get to the school by tomorrow. Just foller me." 

Nirry followed Hagrid, a million thoughts whirling in her head.  
  
  
  



	3. Harry Potter and the Barrier of Punishme...

Credits: All the references to Harry Potter, the world of Hogwarts and the magical community are J.K. Rowling's. All the rest   
are mine. 

Author's note: Well, this is Chapter Three. I did not have any idea it would even go this far, considering my beginning! And you guys, if you think its too long, please say so, I don't mean to babble on so much, but maybe that's my opinion. Anyway, you know the deal, read and review! 

Chapter 3 

Harry, Ron and Hermione woke up, tired and crabby. The drive to Diagon Alley had taken the best part of three hours, and the passengers were more than happy to get off and go through the magical wall at the Leaky Cauldron. The old wizard who managed the inn, Tom, gave them all a toothless grin and waved them through.   
"Now, go get your school stuff, and then meet me right here at exactly 6:00, we want an early start tomorrow, and we've got to pack you up. So, everyone got that? _Three hours_, Fred and George! Have fun, bye now, dears." And with that, Mrs. Weasley collapsed in a chair at Florean Fortenscue's Ice Cream Parlor along with Mr. Weasley.   
After waving good-bye and promising to be there at 6, Harry , Ron and Hermione walked off in the direction of Gringotts, where they had a short visit to Harry's underground vault (Harry tried to grab some money as quick as possible as to not have to see Ron's face) and then left to explore the rest of Diagon Alley. Hermione succeeded it pulling Harry and Ron into the bookshop, where they all bought their books, Ron and Hermione with the money from their parents. When Ron started grumbling, she just said,   
"Ron! You and Harry both know that you'll never ever go in here on your own, and you will have to go here at the very last minute! And besides, it's really worth while, our O.W.L.'s are coming up and you do want to be prepared, don't you? Look at this book! _'Your Career After the OWL's'_! Come on, I'm getting this."   
Ron and Harry rolled their eyes. "My career after the OWL's is going to be exactly the same as now! Come on, Hermione, we're not even in school yet! Besides, we're going to get extra time to study. We're going in tomorrow, aren't we? That's days ahead of schedule." Ron said, placing his books on the counter after Hermione's . Harry grabbed his last book off the wall and joined them. At least this was exactly what he'd been needing: a distraction.   
"Hey! Harry!" Dean and Seamus, their fellow roommates in Hogwarts, came running up to them breathlessly. "Ron, your brothers are having a sale at their store, they brought some jokes stuff with them and set up a temporary booth near the wand store, come on!"   
They tugged at Harry's elbows, and dragged the three to the booth. _Yup,_ thought Harry, exactly _what I needed._

_* * *_

Hagrid took out an old, battered pink umbrella and muttered, "Three up, two across, right now, let's go!" Nirry followed, in a state of dazed confusion. Hagrid had explained mostly everything in his rough manner as best as he could, and Nirry had found it not to be a dream. She still wondered if this was all a joke, but it seemed it wasn't. And as Hagrid stepped through the arch in the wall, Nirry forgot about her dazzledness and just stared. A busy street had appeared out of nowhere, through the alley wall of the pub, the Leaky Cauldron. She felt most of her doubt wash away, and to replace it came amazement and delight.   
Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, the school she was going to attend, that is, the wizarding school, had adopted her. How he knew her parents had died and her grandmother had also passed away just last month was beyond her. She didn't even know about how to make magic, or even she really was even a witch. Now that her doubt was drained from part of her mind, her mind was crowded with questions.   
"I've got her key, right here. Hey, Nirry, is it okay if yer go alone to the vault? My stomach can't take these Gringotts carts," said Hagrid, turning to her with an apologetic smile on his face. Nirry looked up, startled. They had walked all through the Alley without her noticing, and what did Hagrid mean by her vault? Seeing her confused face, he said, "it's actually yer father's vault- Dumbledore, that is, great man, great man. I'll be waiting here, don' worry."   
So Nirry set out alone with a goblin in a cart. She rather enjoyed the ride- it reminded her of that long ago day when her mother had taken her to the carnival. Nervously, she looked at the opened vault the goblin had opened for her, took her money bag, and went in. There were mountains of gold, silver, and bronze coins, all heaped here and there. Nirry's head swooned, and she held onto the wall to regain her balance. It was too much, in too little time. Too much information. She had to think about this, all of this, her being a witch, Hogwarts, Voldemort. Especially Voldemort. Nirry flashed back to the man in the barn... could it be...? No.She snapped out of her trance and came back to the cart.   
Half an hour later, she and Hagrid were walking to their final destination, and she noticed a large crowd around two red-haired boys who were obviously selling something. Then she entered the shop. It was a wand shop; her most anxious stop. The red night owl and the cauldron hadn't been so bad, and neither had the robe's shop, but this would determine if she really was magical or not. A real, magic wand… for the first time since Hagrid found her, she wondered what would happen if she did get a wand, but before she could think any further, a man came out of the shadows, his strange, silvery eyes following her every move. She gulped.   
"Well, Hagrid, another one, eh?" The man chuckled, weirdly soft. Then he went down to business. He moved around his shop with the ease of a person who knows exactly what he is doing.   
"Dragon heartstring and ebony, give it a- no, try this one, six inches, willow, no, this one, maple, swishy and flexible.." the man, Mr. Ollivander, handed Nirry wands and as fast he put them in her hand, he took it back.On and on it went. Hagrid's eyes had become a bit glazed before the man went into the back room of the store. On the contrary, the wand maker's eyes had become huge and shining in delight. Nirry wondered why, since the floor was absolutely covered with boxes and wands carelessly strewn about.   
"Let's try this one, specially imported delivery from Australia, America, foreign imports, yes, go on, give it a try." Nirry picked up the first wand her hand touched in the box, and gave it a wave. Nothing. Just as she was about to give up in despair and suggest she had no right to try being a witch, she felt a strange warmth in her hand. She raised it over her head and gave a swish, and lo and behold, out came thick, green and fuchsia fireworks.   
"Oh yes! Bravo! Tricky customer, but you've got a nice wand there. Aspen and sphinx mane, yes, thirteen inches, unusual combination, why not?" the man muttered to himself. After having paid ten Galleons, they departed from the shop, Nirry beaming.   
"Did you see that? Wow, wow, wow, I can't believe I actually did that! Hagrid, I'm a witch!" Nirry babbled. Hagrid smiled at her and opened his mouth, but was cut short.   
"Hagrid! Hi!" The crowd next door had dispersed, and running up to Hagrid were three teenagers, a pretty girl with bushy hair, a tall boy with red hair and freckles, and another boy with black hair and green eyes behind his glasses.   
"Harry! Hermione! Ron! Good ter see yer, how's it going? All right, Harry?" Hagrid seemed glad to see them. Seeing Ron glance curiously at Nirry, she was about to introduce herself, but Hagrid beat her to it.   
"She's Nirry, got her from Canada. She's in fifth year, too, she''ll be with yer in school. Nirry, these are Harry, Ron, and Hermione, these are fifth years at Hogwarts."   
Harry stared at her. Why did she look so familiar? No one he knew had dark brown hair, captivating eyes, and wore Muggle clothes, but... and her eyes, they didn't rake his forehead…  
"I've- I've just been getting my wand and stuff for school, that is, my owl, and cauldron and..." the girl Hagrid had introduced as Nirry said nervously. Hermione smiled at her.   
"Yes, we just did too, we went and got our books, the shop is right there," and she pointed to the store across the street.   
Nirry smiled, a very bewitching smile. "I've got all my books, I just had to get my wand." Ron looked confused, the exact image of Harry at that moment.   
"But, you're fifteen, aren't you? How come you're getting a wand? Didn't you get it in your first- er, I mean," he stammered at the glare Hermione gave him, meaning,_ be nice to her, Ron_! Harry noticed that Ron had glanced at Nirry and then didn't take his eyes off her until Hermione called his attention.   
Nirry looked sheepish. "Well, I think something went wrong with the letters from the school, they said they overlooked me or something, and then Hagrid came today and said I had to come, and so, well, here I am, going to Hogwarts, not knowing anything this world or even myself. But look, here's my wand! I wasn't even sure I would get a wand, since I thought that maybe I couldn't do magic..." She rushed, eager to show off her wand.   
Hermione reached to take the long wand Nirry stretched out to her. Harry widened his eyes. With a gasp, he realized that with the afternoon sunset on it, the wand was green. It was the wand, the wand from his dreams.   
Nirry was the girl form behind the tombstone.   



	4. Harry Potter and the Barrier of Punishme...

Credits: All the references to Harry Potter, the world of Hogwarts and the magical community are J.K. Rowling's. All the rest   
are mine. 

Author's note: It's not fair for me that I write and you read and then not review! Come, on, people! yeah! You know, I'm starting to think about doing something a lot of people in the world do- no, you sicko's, it's not that…. What's it called again?Oh, yeah, sleep. Haven't had much practice at it, but hey! there's always a first time, isn't there? Please review!

Chapter 4 

"Are you sure it's through the wall?" asked Nirry, her eyebrows sharply raised. "What if I crash?"   
They were at the barrier at King's Cross station, and Nirry was having big doubts about the entrance to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Just to show her it was fine, George and Fred had gone through first, and then back out to where they were waiting.   
"See?" they said in unison. "Come on, we're gonna be late!" The clock on the wall said 10 minutes till 11:00, the time the train departed for Hogwarts. Hermione shook her head exasperadly and took hold of Nirry's cart. "We're going, now!"   
She pushed Nirry and her cart through the barrier. "Wow," said Nirry in surprise, opening her eyes, "so it did work. Sorry."   
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley came through the wall with Ginny. "Come here, give me a hug, Ron, Fred, George. I'll miss you all so much! Promise me you'll write, and boys, I don't ever want to hear about another incident like the one with Percy..."   
The twins struggled to hold in their laughter. Nirry waited for the hugs to finish, and, to her surprise, Mrs. Weasley turned to her after parting with Harry.   
"Now, good luck, dear. I hope you'll have a very good year, and mind you keep an eye on Harry. I'm worried about him." Mrs. Weasley smiled down at her, and Nirry had a faint memory of being hugged by her own mom. Then it was gone and Harry yelled, "Come on, Nirry! You'll be late!" The others were already on the train. Harry had stuck his head out of the window from the last compartment.   
"Bye! Thank you, Mrs. Weasley!" Nirry said hastily, grabbed her trunk, and lugged it onto the train in just in time, for the train had just started moving. She started through the train, to the back where she had seen Harry. She earned a few curious stares from people on the train, but pointedly stared ahead as to ignore them. Just as she was sliding the door open and Ron was saying, "Well, it's about ti-", she felt a tap on her shoulder.   
"So, it's the new show off, isn't it?" A sneering voice stopped her in surprise, and she whirled around, startled.   
"Malfoy, get out!" Harry had sprung out into the corridor, wand raised. Nirry narrowed her eyes at the Malfoy character, flanked as he was with his two bodyguards who were both grinning evilly at Hermione and Ron. Nirry turned her attention to Malfoy, who was still face to face with Harry, lips in a sneer and eyes filled with contempt.

Nirry's temper boiled over during the tense silence between Harry and Malfoy.He'd sneered at her.He didn't even know her. No one would ever treat Nirry like that, and get away with it. Certainly none of her friends would have acted like that.   
She glared and turned ultra cold. "Malfoy… that _is_ your name, right?" Draco had narrowed his eyes at Harry, but still nodded yes, breaking the look. "Please, can it." she said, still in that tone of voice.   
Now Draco's sneer was fixed on hers. "Oh, yeah, and you're going to make me shut up, aren't you? Going to stick up for your puny boyfriend?"   
"I said, get out of my way." Nirry had gone beyond cold. Now she was Arctic. At home, the only people who made Nirry go this far were the animal torturers, the ones she saw yanking along their dogs by the collar, or boys who dragged cats by their tails.   
He was still there, infuriating smirk on his face. She raised her hand. For a second, she thought she saw fear in his eyes, but was replaced by cold indifference. Harry stood on the side of them, and Ron and Hermione were coming slowly out of the door to join Harry in glaring at Crabbe and Goyle, Malfoy's bodyguards. They were getting extremely agitated and cracking their knuckles.   
Nirry's eyes narrowed once again. Clenching her fist, she raised it and swung it heavily around to meet Malfoy's nose, where he was stopped in mid-sentence. "So, what are you going to do, just stand around and wait for-"   
He gasped and blood started to flow out of his nose. "I swear... who do you think you are, huh?" he finally said, trying to cover up his agony with arrogance. Nirry glared at him, lips narrowed so tight they were a grim line, and marched into the compartment.   
A few minutes passed, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered the room, slightly uncomfortable.   
"Wow," said Ron, finally breaking the silence, "how'd you learn to hit like that?" At this, Harry's face broke out into a wide grin, and even Hermione's face was amused.   
Now embarrassed, Nirry spoke into her hands. "Oh, well, I don't know. I guess it's partly from swimming. I've got muscles from that."   
Harry looked at her strangely. "Didn't Hagrid say you lived at a horse stables?"   
Nirry shrank back from the memory in the barn. "Yeah, but I only live there during the summers." Her mind took on another track, thinking, instead of the man and the horses, her riding career . "How will I get to ride when I'm going to be all summer long at Hogwarts?"   
"You wont be all summer long at Hogwarts, we get vacations, didn't you know that?" asked Hermione in surprise. Nirry shook her head.   
"I'm going to be living at Hogwarts, didn't I tell you that? Dumbledore adopted me." That earned her open-mouthed stares from all her friends.   
"Dumbledore _adopted_ you? But, but, he couldn't have!" Ron managed to stammer. Harry stared at Nirry in disbelief.   
"_What_?"   
Hermione was the first to recover from the shock. She closed her mouth and blinked rapidly. "_Dumbledore_ adopted you? Are you sure it was Dumbledore? Nirry, he's almost... well, way to old to be a father!"   
Nirry looked quizzically round at them. "Geez, what's wrong with that? You guys okay?"   
A clattering came in, making them all jump. It was the witch who managed the food cart, and now she entered cheerfully, displaying large amounts of unusual candy that Nirry had never ever seen before in her life. However, her friends lit up immediately and their faces lost the blank amazement of her announcement.   
Moments later, Nirry was surrounded by magical food. "Try these!" Ron thrust another bag of jelly beans at her.   
"Thanks anyway, I've got some." said Nirry, picking up a Chocolate Frog and unwrapping the foil. "Whoa! What's this?" she exclaimed. Harry leaned over to see the card.   
"It's Dumbledore, your first card…like me…" he paused. "You can start collecting. Oh, look! Here's that Muggle Aztec god I was looking for, you don't mind, do you?"   
Nirry looked at the card closely. Yes, it wasn't her imagination, there actually was a card, and the picture of a man, with white beard and twin twinkles in his eyes, was actually waving at her. Just like her hallucinations. On a hunch, she spoke. "Hermione, do you have words that sound something like, oh, I don't know, Windarbuim, Lefasoia?"   
Hermione looked up from the Cauldron Cakes she was sharing with Ron. "Why, yes, there is, _Wingardium Leviosa_, that's a charm for- wait a minute, how did you know that?"   
Nirry told her friends of her imagined insanity. "...and here I was, thinking I was insane, while all along there really are words that sound funny like that."   
She laughed now, in incredulity. Harry couldn't get over the fact she was at the very least, equal to Cho Chang or even Fleur in looks. Now he blurted out what he'd been thinking about, off and on, about Nirry.   
"Hey, Nirry, how'd you get your name?"   
Nirry laughed. "Well, my real name's Rennee, but I couldn't pronounce that when I was little, so I switched it around and called myself Nirry. My mom just went along with that."   
"What happened to your mom?" asked Ron, obviously uncomfortable for asking but eager to know the answer.   
Nirry turned quiet. "I don't know. She left when I was five, and my dad... well, I don't even now my dad. Mom had an affair or something and she divorced her real husband when she had me. My dad left the day after he met my mom."   
There was an awkward silence. It was Nirry herself who broke it. "Well," she said, forcing a smile, "are we almost there yet?"   
They all looked out the windows and realized they were coming in to the dark forests of the woods near Hogwarts. They soon came to a stop, and Nirry got her first glance at the magnificent castle that was Hogwarts.   
"Oh, _wow_." she said, obviously impressed. "This is Hogwarts?" Her friends grinned. They had to drag her from the window to get to a carriage, which would take them up to the school. Then suddenly, Nirry paled. Harry caught her sudden tenseness and gave her a smile, which caused to ease the knot of tension a bit. She had no idea what she would be facing. _Oh, I hope it'll be okay_, she thought nervously. The carriage began to move toward the castles' gates.   
  



	5. Harry Potter and the Barrier of Punishme...

Credits: All the references to Harry Potter, the world of Hogwarts and the magical community are J.K. Rowling's. All the rest   
are mine. 

Author's note: Hey! Thank you all for the wonderful reviews, they're sooo great to read! Sorry I haven't been writing so much lately, report cards came out two days ago and my mom's still mad over the four B's. Anyway, please read, and most importantly, review. I hope you'll like this one, and maybe it'll become clearer as it all goes along. REVIEW!!!!!! 

Chapter 5 

"Oh no," Nirry said in dismay, "where do I go?" They had reached the great doors of Hogwarts and were now standing in line with other, chattering students all trying to push themselves into the warmth of the Great Hall.   
"Why don't you go ask a teacher?" suggested Hermione promptly. "Look, there's Professor McGonagall, our Transfiguration teacher."   
Nirry nodded gratefully at Hermione and went off jostling against the crowd over to the rather stern-faced teacher who stood just inside the doors, waving students in.   
"Pro-professor, um, McGonagall?" Nirry said, nearly losing her balance against the torrent of people. "I-I'm Nirry and I was wondering, oh-"   
McGonagall snapped her head up. "Ah, yes, Nirry Dumbledore, right? You should stand right here with me for the time being, and wait for this crowd to subside. You will be accompanying the first years to try on the Sorting Hat." With a slight smile on the Professor's face that was quite hard to see, considering the hard wind that was coming in, Nirry swallowed the question she was about to ask; "What's the Sorting Hat?" McGonagall didn't even hear her.   
Nirry had heard all about the four Houses from Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but didn't know how she was picked for them. Maybe it had to do with the Sorting Hat.   
A thought rocked Nirry. What if she was put in Slytherin, the House with Malfoy and his buddies? She wanted to be in Gryffindor, where her friends were. _Dear God_, she prayed, _not Slytherin_.   
Professor McGonagall said, rather loudly, "Now, please follow me, first years and Nirry, right here." While she had been thinking, the rest of the students had gone by and Hagrid had delivered a bunch of small, dripping first years into McGonagall's care. Nirry now noticed she was at least a foot taller than the tallest eleven year old there. She sighed, hoping that it wouldn't be too visible in the Hall where her friends were going to see her coming in. Nirry posted herself at the end of the line and they marched slowly into the Great hall where other students sat at four long tables. Nirry glimpsed some vivid Weasley hair at the one to the far left of the Hall, and smiled slightly at the expression on Ron's face. Her stomach was tied up in knots. She didn't even hear the song the Sorting Hat sang from where it sat on a stool because she had looked up, and seen a most pleasant sight: the dull clouds circling endlessly over a bewitched sky, much like the state of her stomach. Maybe she shouldn't have eaten so many Frogs and Beans, or other those Cauldron Cakes on the train, now that she thought of it.   
"Avery, Clarence!" McGonagall was now shouting out the names of the first years, who stood shivering in a line next to Nirry.   
To her surprise, the hat shouted out, "HUFFLEPUFF," and the Avery boy had gone over to sit with a bunch of enthusiastically waving people at the table next to Gryffindor's.   
She glimpsed a sneering face on the Table to the right of her, and she recognized Draco Malfoy's face. She curled her lip and discreetly turned away. She caught Harry's eye and saw him grin at her.   
"Tutundra, Valeze," became a Slytherin, and still Nirry waited. She supposed McGonagall was putting her last, and she felt slightly spooked, all alone on the platform with only an old hat with magical powers next to her. Then, finally, her name was called, and she walked over to the hat as she had seen others do before her. Fingers trembling slightly, she lifted the hat off the stool and sat down.   
"Well, well, well." Nirry gave a start and realized the hat was talking to her.   
"WHAT!" she gave a great jump but still managed to stay on the stool, but she heard snickers coming from the table; Malfoy's, no doubt.   
She steely calmed herself down. 

"Yes, sorry about that, and now, Nirry, isn't it. I see, hhmmm... strong family ties, temper, oh, my yes, temper, good gracious, look at the courage too, intelligence, yes, certainly, now where should you go?" The Hat mused in her ear. It was still disconcerting, but Nirry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, "Please, Gryffindor, please."   
The Hat still mused, "Yes, Gryffindor or Slytherin, I can see that, the question is which. You do know who was in your family, don't you?" This question was directed at her, and Nirry felt a sense of resentment.   
"No, of course I don't, just put me in Gryffindor and I'll be happy!" She was tempted to just yell out "GRYFFINDOR" herself, but then was restrained, consoling herself that the people would recognize the voice to belong not to the Sorting Hat, but to her. _Hurry up, hurry up_, she told the Hat silently.   
"Yes, yes, no need to hurry, all right, I really shouldn't do this, you should have been in Slytherin, considering your father... oh well, GRYFFINDOR!" The hat finally shouted out the last word, and she gave a great sigh and whispered, "Finally."   
She made her way over to the table, amidst whisperings, "_Dumbledore_? Dumbledore, did she say?His _daughter_?" and sat down with a great sigh of relief in between Hermione and George.   
"Ah, another school year, and I will spare you all the ramblings of my thoughts for after your feast. Happy eating!" and he sat down, not before catching Nirry's eye. He was, after all, her new father. The golden plates suddenly filled with food and drink, including abundant English food she had never seen before in her life, and tried them gingerly while the others stuffed their faces. Her squeamishness before the Sorting was forgotten and she settled at last on her familiar hamburger with relish (literally and figuratively). Ron was teasing Hermione about last year.   
"Aren't you going to refuse to eat, Hermione? Shouldn't the elves be free from cooking for us great wizards?"   
Hermione answered as dignified as possible, since her mouth was trying to work around a great mouthful of chicken and raisin pie, which Nirry thought revolting.   
"I've written Dobby to see that he speaks some words of encouragement to the other elves-" she swallowed and continued, "maybe we'll see other free elves by the end of the school year." The others laughed and teased Hermione while Harry explained to Nirry about Dobby and last year, where the house elf had been set free and then hired to work for Hogwarts, along with another elf, Winky.   
"I wonder what happened to Winky?" Harry said, turning to the others as well. The plates had been wiped clean and the tabled had been filled instead with desserts of every kind.   
They discussed various possibilities, and then realized the hall was gradually falling silent. Dumbledore stood up.   
"As usual, the Forbidden Forest is forbidden, as the name implies, and so is the village of Hogsmeade. There will be only five visits to Hogsmeade this year, on chosen weekends, and those only to those above third year. Finally, I must add, you will be encountering various devices designed to protect you against the Dark Arts within various classrooms and around the perimeter of the grounds. Good night, and schedules will be given out tomorrow, as usual."   
The students in the Hall stood up and began to move with groaning stomachs toward their various entrances. Nirry climbed the endless stairs and hallways with Harry, Ron and Hermione, getting more tired with every step she took. She was barely able to keep her eyes open when they came at last to a door which portrayed a fat woman in a silk dress, and Hermione said the password ("tiger sabula"). She followed Hermione up the stairs and collapsed into one of the four-poster beds, the one nearest the window.   
"Good night, Nirry," she heard Hermione say sleepily as she too fell in bed. 

* * *

For a second, Nirry didn't know where she was. What were the red hangings engulfing her for? And where was the familiar wooden cabin of her room at the stables? Then she remembered. She was at Hogwarts, and this was the first day of school.   
"Good morning, Nirry! First day of classes! Get up, you'll be late!" Hermione's voice cut through her thoughts. Hurrying downstairs and through halls after Hermione, they reached the Great Hall and joined Harry and Ron. Over a breakfast of eggs, toast and sausage, she woke up and started to study her schedule.   
"Hey, how come I'm in fifth year classes with you guys?Shouldn't I be starting out as, oh, like a first year or something?" Nirry asked, noticing the resemblance between her schedule and the rest of her friends'.   
Harry and Ron both shrugged. "Just go to the classes and see what happens, okay?" said Hermione, looking happily over her sheet of paper, which was at least twice as long as Nirry's. Nirry shrugged as well and nodded, then looked back down at her schedule.   
"What's this? 'Transfiguration, Divination, Potions'- oh, these are the magic classes, right? Cool! We get to learn Potion making?" she said, a smile engulfing her face. Ron shook his head ruefully. "You wont be liking it soon, I reckon- Snape's the teacher and head of Slytherin House, and Slytherins are with us."   
"Great," muttered Nirry. Why was Malfoy so weird to her on the train? If he hadn't been like that, she wouldn't have done what she did and she wouldn't be about to have trouble with this teacher she didn't even know.   
'Besides, he hates all Gryffindors," Harry added. He stood up. "Lets go, Transfiguration first, you'll be able to see what McGonagall'll say about your magic."   
Nirry pushed away from the table and walked off with her friends, pestering them about details on classes, most of which Hermione answered happily.  



	6. Harry Potter and the Barrier of Punishme...

Credits: All the references to Harry Potter, the world of Hogwarts and the magical community are J.K. Rowling's. All the rest   
are mine. 

Author's note: Hey, well, things'll start getting better, okay, so please read and review and I'll be happy! You will find out about Nirry and all this stuff, just wait. Homework, oh homework, I hate you, you stink! I wish I could wash you away in the sink! Arg, tests! Quizzes! Ninth grade is very annoying. 

Chapter 6   
With each day that passed by, Nirry felt more mixed up than ever before.   
On one hand, she loved Hogwarts and everything about it. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were the best friends she had and could ever have, and everyone else was great, too, except, of course, for Malfoy, who was avoiding her gaze and brushing past her roughly every time her saw her in the halls. Her friends were great, that was for sure. She'd even had little conversations with her new father, Dumbledore, and found him to be wonderful.   
The one other feeling she'd felt was despair. The teachers had all given her extra work so she could catch up to where the others in the fifth year would be, if she worked hard, for Christmas. It had helped that, over the years, she had somehow accumulated a bit of magical experience (how, she didn't know) and was familiar with the magical words, as Dumbledore told her, but even with that bit of a boost, she still had to work far into the night every day with Hermione in the library and sometimes even stay after school hours with her teachers for extra help. Dumbledore had said that he would be overseeing her O.W.L. examinations, since she was so far behind, and would do them later, possibly in the summer or sometime then.  
Nirry remembered the time she had had to get help from Snape for a particularly complicated potion that used some of the ingredients she wasn't sure of. She could have asked Hermione, but felt like maybe Hermione should do her own work without Nirry interrupting every second with a question. So she'd had to endure an hour of Snape's greasy voice sneering at her for not knowing the right ingredients. When Nirry had retaliated, she'd gotten a detention. Two hours of sticking her hands into grimy worm intestines was enough for her to start hating Snape with the zest that she'd felt against Malfoy in the train.   
By far the easiest and the funnest class she had was Care of Magical Creatures, with Hagrid. She always loved animals even as a small child, and here all the animals she'd encountered so far were interesting and, though Hagrid would have preferred something else, harmless and fun to take care of. She'd even groomed a Tallieta, a deer-like creature with timid, soft eyes that lived mostly in forests and mountains.   
Nirry sighed. She rolled up the parchment she'd been writing on for an extra homework assignment for Charms and scanned the emptying common room for Harry, Ron, or Hermione. She saw Harry sitting in his favorite armchair near the fire, but there was no sign of either Ron or Hermione. She headed toward the fire.   
"Hey, Harry. What's up?" She leaned her head against the soft velvet of the cushion and sighed again.   
Harry was frowning slightly, but there was no sign of textbooks or quills in his lap, so Nirry hoped it wasn't school related. "Have you seen Ron and Hermione lately? There's been no sign of either of them at all tonight."   
Nirry blearily opened one eye. "Don't know, maybe they're out somewhere." Nirry had been noticing that Hermione spent more time than usual alone with Ron the past week, and she supposed they had come up with a surprise for her and Harry.   
"Well, yeah, but where could they-" he was interrupted by a loud giggling of Hermione and Ron's voices as they came through the portrait hole.   
Hermione spotted them first in the empty room, sitting by the fire. "What are you all doing here?" she asked in surprise. Ron's ears were now a bright pink, but neither Harry nor Nirry could figure out if it was from the fire or his own blush.   
"Oh, nothing," said Nirry, "but where have you guys been? We were just talking about you." At this, even Hermione's cheeks turned a bright pink.   
"Oh, we, we were just walking around," said Ron in a squeaky stammer. Both Nirry and Harry burst out in laughter. Ron gave a small sputter of igndigation, and then stopped. Hermione shook her head, apparently too embarrassed for words. Nirry suddenly had an inspiration.   
"Oh, my god, were you guys out there, well, you know..." Then she bent up in total hysterics, laughing off some of the stress of the past three weeks. She only stopped to find that Ron ws starting to look mad and that Harry and Hermione both were staring at her strangely, Harry more so. Nirry wondered what the matter was. The first time Harry had looked at her was when she'd shown her wand to everyone back in Diagon Alley. Nirry stopped abruptly.   
"What do you mean?" asked Ron cautiously. "We were out- oh, you mean, well, that?" He stole a glance at Hermione. She spoke up.   
"Oh, nothing, nothing, we weren't doing anything at all, don't worry." Harry doubted this, as Hermione was still pink, and Ron was looking as if the dusty bottle of ink on a table was the most interesting thing in the world. However, Nirry bought it and just barely was able to drag her tired body out of the chair and up the stairs.   
"Good... night, everyone," was all they could hear before a soft shutting of the door. Harry looked quizzically at Ron, but he just muttered something that sounded like, "good night" and went up the stairs. Hermione left shortly after that, with a stricken smile at Harry.   
He was left totally alone in the common room, left to dwell on Nirry. He'd seen her in his dreams before he'd even met her. What did it mean? He'd hoped this year would be uneventful, but there was a lurking mystery to her. And what was Hagrid up to? He'd been acting very weirdly lately, first with Nirry and then when he caught up with them in Diagon Alley.   
Harry remembered with a jolt that tomorrow would start Quidditch practices. He would have to introduce Nirry to Quidditch. Ron had nearly had a heart attack when he'd found out she didn't know about Quidditch, and Harry had started to explain about it, but then had to go into Transfiguration, so the subject was dropped.   
Brain still raging with thoughts, he climbed the stairs and off into bed. If he hadn't been so preoccupied, he'd noticed that Ron was awake and would steal quietly out of the room. 

* * *

Nirry's eyes looked like huge, brownish grey sapphires. "So that's Quidditch?" she asked, awed. Harry swooped down to her and handed her his Firebolt.   
"Go on, have a try," he offered generously. They were at the first team practice of the week. Katie, Alicia and Angelina, the Chasers, were in the air with the Quaffle, while Fred and George raced each other in dives. The team's new Keeper and Captain, Russ Haffaway, was a blond fourth year that nobody had noticed at all noticed last year, but had been practicing all summer and was excellent now at Keeper. He'd spent most of his time today getting his team to do different, whacky drills with the balls and improving their speed.   
Nirry mounted the Firebolt and rose off into the air. "Oh, my GOD!!!!!!" she yelled in delight. In a few second's time, she was fifty feet up in the air and going higher.   
"So, do you think she likes it?" asked Ron rhetorically, squinting in the air to where Nirry had been. Her dot became larger and larger until Nirry came racing toward them so fast they all ducked, and then went on, skimming the trees in the Forbidden Forest with her shoes. Harry watched her with a surprised look. She was a natural, much like Harry had been in his first year. He studied her form carefully like a professional Quidditch player.   
"Nirry! Come down for a moment!" he yelled suddenly. Nirry came racing toward them breathlessly, only stopping a few feet from where they stood. Wind ruffled her hair and her cheeks were red from the cold.   
"Oh, my God, that was the best time I've ever had! You know what it reminded me of?" she rushed on without waiting for an answer. "Riding my horse, Cinamonne, through the fields! That was just so- thanks, Harry."   
Wistfully she turned the Fireblot back to him. He turned the magnificent broomstick in his hands, smoothing the polished wood. "You know what Nirry? You would definitely make the team." Nirry turned to him, shocked but a smile creeping up on her lips.   
"Oh, come on, I haven't even seen Quidditch before this, now you want me to play?" she said, mocking her own ability.   
"No, really, you could," insisted Harry. "Come on, I'll go talk to Russ." They set off to the Captain, and Harry started explaining to him about Nirry. Before he could suggest looking at her in action on the broom, she spoke up quickly.   
"I couldn't be on the team, just look at all the work I have to do, Harry!" she said in a half-hearted attempt to look as through making the team would not make her deliriously happy and satisfied. Harry sensed this, however, and pleaded again with Nirry and Russ.   
"Oh, come on," he said exasperadly, then brightening up. "I've got it! You can be a replacement, if anybody is sick or anything, come on! You could be, think of how much fun it would be." Russ's face showed distinctive signs of excitement.   
"Yeah! Oh, wait, let me see you fly first, I'd better." Nirry clambered up once again on the smooth, polished surface of the Firebolt and zoomed off again, relishing every moment on it, replendescent and exhilarated. She'd barely been on for five minutes when she saw both harry and Russ gesturing wildly at her. When she got closer, she could hear harry say in an excited tone, "YOU MADE IT!!!!!!!!!"   
With a broad grin, Nirry landed and after arranging to be at every other Quidditch practice, she set off to the Great Hall with Harry, glowing brighter with every step. 

  
  



	7. Harry Potter and the Barrier of Punishme...

Credits: All the references to Harry Potter, the world of Hogwarts and the magical community are J.K. Rowling's. All the rest   
are mine. 

Author's note: Ladeeda. : :wakes up: : Oh! Right! I'm supposed to be writing my Harry Potter fic! Oops! Er, just kidding. I'm so tired I can't think right now. Wait a sec, I can! Wow! So I'll just get moving along, shall I? *That would probably be a good idea*, whispers her shrink. And by the way, sorry about me, i know I haven't been that consistent in my writing, and I've been busy will all the stuff here... anyway, sorry, but READ AND REVIEW!!! 

Chapter 7   
"Cotton candy," Nirry whispered, and the stone gargoyle that was the entrance to Dumbledore's room opened. Someone brushed rudely past her, and she turned just in time to see that it was Snape.   
"_Excuse_ me," she said rather sarcastically, but he didn't even turn around. Frowning slightly, she entered the room where Dumbledore sat at his desk. When she came in, however, he stood up, beaming.   
"Sit down, my dear, sit down," he said jovially. His piercing blue eyes seemed to see right through her head, and she smiled back at him, pleased he'd asked her to come, since the common room had been unusually empty, and not one of her friends was up, this time at nine in the morning on a Saturday.   
"Professor-" she'd asked him if it was okay to call him that, and he'd said it was fine, "um, I just saw Snape- um, Professor Snape, and, why was he in such a hurry? He was just outside, and..." there she stopped because Dumbledore had just started pacing on the floor in front of her. He suddenly turned to her, eyes aglow.   
"Since I am your presumed father, I will proceed to tell you something no one must hear." Nirry frowned. An uneasy feeling grew in the pit of her stomach.   
"I believe you are friends with Mr. Potter, am I not right?" she nodded, and he continued. "The -man- who killed his parents is the same one you have told me about, and, he is, of course, Voldemort. Now, our admirable Professor Snape," and here he paused, looking slightly amused at the sudden sneer of Nirry's mouth, "Snape, was once a Death Eater. One of Voldemort's supporters, that is. Although he came back to our side long ago and began acting as our spy. From the things he's said recently concerning the renewal of Voldemort, we have reason to believe he is going to start with an all-out attack on the magical public places such as Diagon Alley and Hogwarts."   
Nirry stared at him, wide-eyed. "What? But- and what does Snape have to do with this?"   
Dumbledore stopped pacing to answer her. "We must find more information. We cannot do a thing until we know what he is up to. Luckily, Ha-, that is, certain people are acting as spies and we hope to catch him in the act before he does any more damage."   
Nirry sank farther into her seat, head reeling. Dumbledore resumed his pacing, deep in thought. _He's going to attack Diagon Alley?_ thought Nirry in desperation. _No!_

_ * * *_

Snape hurried through he corridors, hastily fastening his Death Eater robes. Voldemort had ordered this meeting especially, and now Snape's mind turned over possible excuses in his mind.   
He reached the road to Hogsmeade, and after making sure no one noticed him, got out his wand and muttered something incomprehensible. The next moment, there was a cloud of hazy fog where he had been.   
Seconds later, he brushed of the dust on his robes and squinted through the mist in search of his "fellow" Death Eaters. He could just make out shadowy figures huddled in a semicircle up ahead, and he hurried to catch up, taking care to slip his mask over his head.   
"And he arrives," said the high cold voice of Lord Voldemort, the one who had killed so many, including that fifth year girl Nirry's past life. The rush of anger welled up beneath Severus' consciousness, but he forced it down rapidly, hoping Voldemort had not remembered to renew his promise last meeting about the mind reading magical abilities he had.   
"I am sorry, my Lord," he murmured, falling on his knees as to not look directly into his eyes. Slowly, he got up and walked backward to fit in with the others, who's eyes watched him from beneath their hoods.   
Voldemort sounded amused. "Severus, Severus, what was it this time?" Snape shivered uncontrollably.   
"It- it was Dumbledore, Milord, I had to see him in his office for a small chat on my teaching, it seems one of my students was mad at me for giving her a detention."   
Voldemort dismissed him with a wave of the hand. "Then I will begin to tell you, my Death Eaters, how our plan will come about. This year, I _will_ defeat Harry Potter. We will begin by the destruction of Hogsmeade, where nobody will ever find us. Lucius.. begin the plans."   
Severus Snape listened and shivered. _ How will we ever win?_

_* * *_

Nirry sat, deep in thought. Harry watched her intently. She barely touched her mashed potatoes and fried chicken, one of her favorites. She was staring at some far-off point, and didn't even look up when Fred and George laughed heartily when, over at the Slytherin table, someone tried to eat a chicken leg and it started to walk on its own off the table and out the doors.   
"Nirry, Nirry, wake up! Are you all right?" Harry had not been the only one noticing Nirry's odd behavior. Ron and Hermione arrived together at the table and were staring curiously at her. Nirry came out of her trance.   
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. What class do we have next?" she got up and brushed her hair out of her eyes absently. Harry tried to sound lighthearted as he said,   
"First Defense Against the Dark Arts, and then Care of Magical Creatures."   
Nirry suddenly lost her intense eye look. "Oh, good!" she said, then glanced at her untouched food. "I'm done, let's go." Harry looked at her sharply. She forced a smile at him, clearly meaning, _I'm fine, don't worry_. Ron and Hermione walked behind them, hand in hand. Whenever Harry or Nirry looked back at them, they dropped their hands. Harry had a strong suspicion about what this was about, but didn't want to embarrass them by saying it.   
They entered the classroom without further discussion, and chose seats near the back as usual. Gradually the classroom filled up, and still Dumbledore, who had been teaching the Defense class for the last three weeks, had not shown up. Instead, a tall, gray eyed witch came zooming in, booming out, "Sorry, kids, sorry, know I'm late, but hey! Can't do anything about it now, can I? Damn trains..." Leaving the class speechless and openmouthed, she almost ran to the front of the room and set her bag down. She smiled widely at them all. Harry, Ron, Hermione and everyone else in the room were distinctly reminded of Lockhart. Nirry, however, just looked questioningly at Harry, Hermione and Ron for answers, but they too were bug eyed to answer.   
"Now, as you people know already, this is Defense Against the Dark Arts, and now, since these Dark Times falling upon us, we must learn how to defend ourselves!" she would have continued longer, but Nirry raised her hand and politely waved it around.   
"Excuse me, but, Miss, what is your name?" Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at her in amazement, but the teacher just laughed, long and loud, and replied,   
"Yep, honey, the first thing you've gotta know here is my name, huh? Anyway, I'm Miz Reídiata, all you gotta know, Miz Reedíata."   
Nirry looked distinctly surprised, and she raised her left eyebrow so high that Harry nudged her. Miz Reedíata continued with a speech that made several other eyebrows join Nirry's.   
"Now, as we all know very well, some better than others," here her eyes flashed in the direction of Harry's scar, and he squirmed uncomfortably, "is that Voldemort, the great Lord Voldemort, has risen once more. Do you realize that in the whole of history, no other wizard has been as evilly powerful as he? You all remember the horrific deaths of the people at his mercy, don't you? You must! Voldemort has risen again and will soon come for each and every one of us!"   
"Hmmm... like she's very sad 'bout that," whispered Seamus to Dean, across the aisle from the four friends. Hermione and Nirry shared a look of pity toward Harry, who was slowly not trying to think of his parents.   
Miz Reedíata looked at them pointedly, then proceeded to tell them to lug their books out and start reading from page 1. A lot of groans issued from this. 

* * *

"Oh, my lord, can you believe that Miz Reedíata?" gasped Nirry as soon as she was out of earshot of the over enthusiastic teacher. "She actually sounded _happy_ about Voldemort." Ron shivered at the mention of the name.   
"And she said his name- I can't believe that! Say You-Know-Who, please, Nirry."   
"Why?" she asked, her eye on Hagrid's cabin looming up in front of them. Ron looked a bit embarrassed.   
"Well, because... er, never mind, here's Hagrid."   
Harry looked curiously at his cabin. The curtains were drawn and there was no sign of life, even though class started in five minutes, and groups of Slytherins were already coming down.   
"Hagrid! What were you doing in there? We've got class in five minutes!" said Hermione. Hagrid's head emerged from a window, saw them, and pulled it back in, then emerged from the cabin , shutting the door securely behind him and padlocking it with a large lock that disappeared as soon as he clicked the metal part. He quickly came toward them and gave them a forced grin.   
"Yer right, it's time fer class already.. come on, look the rest of the class are waiting fer us." Harry and Ron looked at each other, as did Hermione and Nirry. They were all thinking the same thing, which was, _is Hagrid okay? _There was something definitely sneaky in his movements. This lesson, Hagrid led them all toward a big arena which contained several large, four-footed creatures. Nirry, however, had eyes for only one thing, in the corner of the area in a secured section.   
"CINAMONNE!" she cried, and before anyone could stop her, she flew over the gate, and amid stares and open-mouthed amazement, ran through the strange creatures in the middle to reach her beloved horse. "Oh, my god, how did you come here? I thought I'd never see you again! Oh, Cinamonne, I missed you so much! Yes, it's me!" Nirry hugged her mare's neck and finally let go, doing a little jig on the grass. Cinamonne, for her part, came closer and nudged Nirry's shoulder hard in a show of complete affection for her mistress.   
Nirry turned, beaming, to her companions, who were hurrying toward her, puzzled looks on their faces. "This is my horse!" she explained. Hagrid grinned at her, and Nirry wondered whether this was what his secret movements were about.   
"Yeah, well, Nirry, Dumbledore thought yer might like yer horse back, after all, after what happened to yer and...well, he's told me ter tell yer that she's yers fer keeps."   
Nirry looked up at him, thanks shining from her eyes. For the rest of the lesson, all she did was cast looks over at Cinamonne who nickered at her to come closer, and did not hear a word Hagrid said about the Permatinients, the huge soft bear-like creatures who attached themselves to something once they liked it (or the person) and never let go. All she could think of was that she was going to ride her after the lesson, and nothing and no one would stop her. 

* * *

"Wow," whispered Hermione for the tenth time. She, Harry and Ron were sitting on the grounds, watching Nirry and Cinamonne gallop to their hearts' content. "She's really good, isn't she?"   
Harry and Ron nodded agreement, eyes moving as if watching a tennis match, following the horse's frolics from where they sat. Finally, after about half an hour, Nirry came cantering to them, grinning widely.   
"Wow! I can't believe she's back here! Isn't she great?" and patted Cinamonne's neck. The horse was breathing rather heavily, yet did not sweat. Harry nearly said something in relation to, "well, you're great, too," but refrained from saying so. It was not the right time and besides, it would ruin the easy friendship between them.  
"Any of you want to try?" she continued, dismounting and walking over to them. Hermione and Ron looked a bit apprehensive, and Harry couldn't blame them. Nirry turned to Harry first. "Come on, Harry, just get on for a moment!" she coaxed.   
Harry went and stood on the left-hand side, as Nirry instructed him to do. With a little help from Ron and Hermione, they gave him a boost and he perched on top of Cinamonne, gripping handfuls of mane. Nirry started to walk him, and soon Harry began to enjoy it.   
"How do I look?" he shouted to Hermione and Ron.   
"I think Nirry looked better on her," said Ron, and Harry gave him a look. Nirry noticed his good balance in the seat, and commented on it, which Harry surmised it was probably from Quidditch. Soon they came back and the process was repeated again first with Hermione and then finally with Ron, who were both happy to see that they did not fall off.   
They came in, talking loudly and fast about their riding experiences. Draco Malfoy noticed them and sneered when they came in. Harry's teeth were set on edge as soon as he sighted Malfoy, and they stood, face to face in the hall.   
"Stupid animal, really," muttered Draco, then brushed past them, avoiding Nirry's eyes.   
'Hey, Nirry, you know what? I bet old Draco's afraid of you!" Harry said in surprise. Nirry scoffed him, but secretly thinking he was right. 

* * *

Wormtail shuffled his feet, suppressing yawns with terror when he entered the room in which his master lay, sleeping. Voldemort looked evil even in sleep, thought Peter, wincing. He crept to the table to refill his master's glass of water.   
"Wormtail, my loyal servant," said Voldemort, rising with a start in his dark bed. Wormtail would have dropped the glass in sudden surprise if it hadn't been for his new, silver-shining hand. As it was, he nearly broke it and earned the cold stare of Voldemort.   
"I fear I had a rather- _unusual_ dream. Yes, unusual. Wormtail, from this point on, you will not wake me for anything." At this, Wormtail protested feebly.  
"But, my lord, you called for more water-"   
"Silence! Do as I say and go." Wormtail left quickly, knowing with past experience how his master would act when angry. As soon as he left, Voldemort lay down in sleep once more. Heavy fog clouded his vision, and he fell once again to sleep.   
_Yes, it was a girl, he was sure of it. Nine months ago, that one night, so foolish he had been, to get drunk on Muggle vodka and scotch in addition to Firewhisky. At the party, the party. Foolish also to let that poor excuse of a girl to lead him to her room, to pour him another whisky. Foolish to wake up the next morning in her bed, head pounding and stomach reeling._   
_ Nine months later, he was sure it was the girl. The one girl who had made him sick for a week. The one who was in the hospital at that very moment, maternity section. Oh, he had been so foolish, that night at the party._   
_ It made no difference, the happening of today. He would kill her that night, and the child as well. That very night, that night. He would creep into the room, see her gaze and frightened gasp and leave her for the doctors. This very night._

* * *

Harry Potter woke up, head pounding. His dream once again swirled round him. It was different this time, as well, though his usual nightmare had faded to only once every week or so. This was different. Voldemort was there, thinking, _thinking? _About what? Something about a child, no, a woman, a party, a child... something about the child was familiar. Harry quietly got out of bed and made his way out of the rom toward the bathroom. It was three o'clock in the morning.   
His head was still turning over the dream he'd had. it was fading quickly.   
"Hey! What- Nirry! What are you doing up?" Harry whispered fiercely, heart turning over at the sight of the tall figure in a white, long shirt. Nirry made no answer. Her eyes were glazed, and Harry began to be frightened.   
"Nirry, Nirry! Are you okay?" he asked in a whisper. Nirry held onto the wall, long, slim hands softly grasping the smooth, worn canvas paintings. The subjects of the paintings were thankfully asleep.   
"I'm- I'm fine, yeah," she muttered, then banged straight into Harry. Harry felt something close to panic.   
"Nirry, are you sleepwalking?" he said, then struggled to lift the now sleeping form of Nirry off himself and stood her up. Suddenly, her eyes flew open, and Harry was so startled he nearly dropped her.   
"Who the hell do you think you are? Hey- Harry? Wha- what am I doing here?" Nirry stood up on her own and straightened her hair out. Harry looked deep into her eyes. He almost lost himself in those deep, brown eyes that were now changing color-   
"Hey! Your eyes are turning green!" Harry gasped, momentarily distracted from the past few moments. Nirry shrugged.   
"Yeah, so? They always do that. Harry, now, tell me. What was I doing out here? It must be at least four in the morning!" she said impatiently.   
"You- Nirry, you were sleepwalking." said Harry, having a hard time tearing his eyes away from hers. Nirry looked suddenly back at him and smiled. Their eyes held the look for what seemed like an eternity.   
"Nirry-"   
"Harry-"   
MROWRLW!!!!! Crookshanks leapt upon them, breaking them apart and going on through the hall on his way downstairs to the common room. Harry looked embarrassed now.   
"I'll, er- go back to my room, okay? See you in the morning." He said rather guiltily, glancing around the hall. Nirry turned a bright peach color.   
"Right," she murmured. Each went to their own rooms and fell into their beds, their minds full of what had just happened. Harry was just falling asleep when he remembered the dream with a start. Then he shrugged mentally, turned over, and went to sleep.   
Nirry lay on her back, mind going over and over the look on Harry's face. Taking a dreamy glance around the room, she saw her watch and the luminous green letters that said, **6:07**. She quickly turned around and squashed the last bits of though out of her mind and soon fell into a deep, dreamless sleep, only to be awoken in two hours.   



	8. Harry Potter and the Barrier of Punishme...

Credits: All the references to Harry Potter, the world of Hogwarts and the magical community are J.K. Rowling's. All the rest   
are mine. 

Author's note: I love you all! Er- or not. But thanks to those who _have_ reviewed my previous stories (::ahem::) I want you to know I really appreciate your comments. Reviews are my life! I live for reviews! So please review! 

Chapter 8   
Harry, Nirry, and Ron climbed the stairs up to Divination, talking and complaining loudly. Harry and Nirry were commenting on their Quidditch practice the night before.   
"I couldn't see anything at all!" exclaimed Nirry, clutching the banister in mid sentence. "It was so foggy... Hey! Who just stepped on my robes?"   
They reached the top of the floor and began mingling with the crowd of Gryffindor students below Professor Trelawney's trapdoor. Nirry gave an exhausted sigh. Ron's face was red, and the rest of the students were sweaty as well.   
"I reckon maybe the stairs got higher, they weren't like that last time," said Ron, breathing more normally now. Nirry suddenly brightened.   
"Oh, right! I remember Hermione telling me about the stairs at Hogwarts moving around on a monthly basis." Groans followed this statement, and she looked around, annoyed. "What?" she asked defensively.   
"You mean we're going to have to walk even more this year?" Harry asked. Nirry gave an exasperated sigh.   
"_No, _of course not! They'll probably come down this week or something like that."   
The trapdoor overhead opened, the silver ladder came down, and their argument was cut short by Professor Trelawney's voice greeting them in.   
The four settled themselves at their usual table near the windows, and tried to stifle their urges to yawn or sleep. Nirry looked faint, the same as she looked every time she came in. The heavy, perfumed air seemed to her even more oppressive than usual, though it might have been because of her experience the night before. There had been a torrent of loose rain from the sky, which rained down on the team with no mercy.   
"The Orb has informed me that today, my dears, our lesson concerns the bones of the Oracle! Gather round and take, each one of you, one of these bones which have been so generously donated to me this year. Place a burning rod of this flowery essence, and place it inside the hollow. Wait five minutes, take the leftovers out of the bone, then interpret the cracks with help from your book, page 56- 57. Now, me dears, let us not hurry!" The teacher stood as always, with her billions of gold bracelets and jangles, with her gauzy silk shawl around her shoulders and fly sized spectacles on her face. After rolling their eyes at her speech, they came round and each took one of the bones, which, Ron happened to mutter, looked exactly like the bones of mice.   
Soon they settled down to wait for their bones to be cracked, watching Trelawney help Neville, who was having some trouble with his rod. It would not stay on the table, but after three burnt tries, she finally managed to keep it on the table by placing another under it.   
"You know what I miss the most?" said Nirry wistfully, trying to catch a breath from the opened window before Trelawney spotted it and ordered it to be shut, "movies. Movies and the computer."   
Ron looked mystified, but Harry nodded. "But, think, you'll probably get some time to go to a movie during the summer, I bet Dumbledore'll let you." Harry said carefully, trying to sound lighthearted as if not to sound like he'd like to take her to the movie.His eyelids shut down over his eyes, only to jerk back up. Ron suddenly looked around, and hastily, Nirry shut the window.   
"Yes, my dears, they're almost done, let me help you," Professor Trelawney glided toward them and took Harry's oracle bone in her hand before Harry could utter a word of protest. Now he sunk down in his chair, waiting for the death prediction that was to follow. And, sure enough...   
"My dear Mr. Potter! This is bad, oh, so very bad. You have, I am sorry to say, once again got the signals of death here. You see, the lines intersecting here mean... oh!" she gave a cry of astonishment. Nirry and Ron looked sympathetically at Harry, who was now getting the avid stares of Lavender and Parvati. Dean and Seamus were suppressing sniggers, and Neville was carefully not looking at his bone. Nirry looked back at Trelawney, her mouth pursed in a single line. There was a faint ringing tone in her head.   
Trelawney gave a great shudder. "Yes, very bad indeed, worse than even last year, I'm afraid." Harry made a face at her. Nirry's annoyance and anger were mounting in her head along with the smoke. In fact, the smoke seemed to be in her eyes. She cleared her head, and Harry came back into focus. He looked distinctly disgruntled and vexed.   
"She always has to do this to me, doesn't she, she does, of course, she does. To me." He gave his bone a disdainful look and flicked it menacingly toward Ron, who began to laugh. Nirry felt even heavier. The pounding in her head started again. Dimly she wondered if she was going ot sleep. Then everything blacked out.   
Harry looked at Nirry in surprise, where she lay passed out on the desk. True alarm sounded in his voice, for he was sure this was not a joke. Her face was pallid and did not show any sign of life.   
"_Ron_," he hissed, at the same time waving maniacally at the teacher, who came gliding toward them, until she saw Nirry's body draped gracefully across the desk. The size of Ron's eyes grew.   
"My child, what happened here!" she exclaimed, swooping down on her. She rolled Nirry's face so it faced upward. "Speak, child, speak, we-"   
Nirry's body grew rigid as a board. Her mouth opened, and Harry stared in horror at her face, silently grasping her hand. He felt her whole body shudder, then heard the low rasp of a voice that came from her mouth.   
"_The Dark Lord has risen again, as we knew he would. Someone will die! The nemesis of Lord Voldemort will die! He is making plans now, oh great Lord of Darkness. He will destroy you all! All of you... all..._"   
A shriek issued from one of the girls in the classroom, and the grating voice that came from her mouth smoothed out, into one, long scream of terror.   
"_How dare you? How dare you! Aaaaahhhhh!_" her body began to shake uncontrollably, amid openmouthed stares of terror from her classmates. Harry looked, stricken, at Trelawney, and saw she was looking at Nirry's face transfixedly. The screaming went on until at last Harry thought he'd have to run from the room, cowering and covering his ears against the scream Harry had mistaken at first as a banshee.   
Nirry's body stopped shaking abruptly. She opened her eyes and saw the faces of her companions. Bewildered, she looked round at them.   
"What happened?"   
Wordlessly, they all looked back at her. 

* * *

"Higher, Fred, higher!" the shout of Russ's voice. "You've got to, come on, yes! Now, dive back down quickly, no hands!"   
Harry looked down at where Russ swooped, fifty feet below him. Hoping he wouldn't see, Harry urged his Firebolt even higher, till he could almost hear his ears pop from the exertion.   
He had to think about what had happened in Divination. Nirry had been led, protesting, to the hospital room, and the class had been unusually quiet, even after Trelawney had dismissed them a half hour early. Even the Great Hall he'd been quiet, at supper, and people could be seen whispering at the tables. Dumbledore looked serious, and Trelawney was nowhere to be seen. Neither, in fact, had Miz Reediata.   
The fact that a student had obviously been possessed- or worse- by what seemed like Death Eaters had spread through the castle like wildfire. The common room had been so full of whispered statements and furtive looks all around them finally made Harry leave, disgusted, leaving Ron to tell Hermione about it. Nirry was still in the hospital wing.   
_Phhhtt_!!! Something small, gold and winged zoomed past his ear, and he turned his head to see what it was.   
"Potter! What are you doing, looking for birds? Come back down and start working!" The voice of the overwhelmed captain reached his ears. Harry tried to clear his mind of thoughts and spiraled down quickly, trying to catch the Snitch. He reached Russ and muttered an apology, grunting with the effort of leaning over three feet below his broomstick. Russ nodded approval.   
"Good job, Harry. We've got to work hard this week, our first game is coming up on Saturday!" and zoomed off. Harry snapped his head up.   
"This Saturday?" Harry shook his head once more, berating himself. He must have been really out of it, probably because of Nirry's untimely trance. Of course the game was this Saturday! He sped off in search of the others.   



	9. Harry Potter and the Barrier of Punishme...

Credits: All the references to Harry Potter, the world of Hogwarts and the magical community are J.K. Rowling's. All the rest   
are mine. (duh) 

Author's note: Here it is. I'm depressed. And tired. There's no more sugar in my stomach. I'll just have to make do with... ::brightens:: PIXIE POWER! Yay! Okay, now I'm better. Read and review! 

Chapter 9   
"Man, I'm so bored!" exclaimed Nirry Wednesday afternoon. "There's just nothing to do!"   
Hermione looked up from where she was finishing an essay for History of Magic class. "Did you finish all of your homework?"   
Nirry nodded. She got up from her chair and went over to the window. Harry and Ron gave each other a look. They had now grown used to Nirry's unusual mood swings. Last time she got like this, she had been snarly all day long and gone to bed early.   
Not today, however.   
"Want to play Exploding Snap?" suggested Harry. Him and Ron sat in armchairs by the fire. Nirry shook her head still restlessly, and continued to stare outside. All she could see was a view of Hagrid's cabin, the greenhouses and the lake.   
"I know!" cried Nirry after about ten minutes of staring. "I'm going swimming." Harry, Hermione and Ron gaped at her, speechless.   
"Excuse me?"   
Nirry was already up the stairs. "I told you, I'm going swimming."   
She deserted her friends, leaving them open-mouthed at the bottom of the dormitory stairs. Homework, school and essays were forgotten. In a minute, Nirry reappeared with a black plastic beach bag stuffed hastily with a towel, a pair of goggles, and fins.   
"You're-you're going?" Hermione spluttered finally. Nirry gave her a look of annoyance.   
"Well, duh, what does it look like?" she smiled at the three. "Have fun! See ya guys!"   
With that, she strode over to the dormitory wall, jumped down, and left behind a wake of very confused and shocked classmates. The room was silent for a moment. Then Hermione began to gather up her parchments and books.   
"Well, we can't just leave her there, she'll freeze."   
Ron looked at her in amazement. "You're saying we should go in after her?"   
In answer, Hermione left her things abandoned on the table and sprinted upstairs, yelling over her shoulder, "Come on!"   
Harry and Ron stared after her in amazement. "There's something wrong with everyone here today, isn't there," Harry muttered to himself. Then a thought struck him. "Ron- you don't think- she's going swimming in the _lake_?"   
Ron slowly started to grin and opened his mouth. Before he could answer, though, Hermione came rushing down. She held a bulky backpack in one hand and her wand in the other.   
"Well?" she asked impatiently, "aren't you coming?"   
Harry and Ron looked at each other, then at the rest of the people in the common room. They were still standing, frozen, as they were when Nirry ran out the door.   
"Yes!" Harry blurted out before he could think. "Wait-"   
Hermione gave a satisfied nod and began hauling them out of the dormitory. The last thing Harry saw as he was pulled out was George and Fred's envious faces grinning, amused, at them. 

* * *

They arrived just as Nirry was dipping one foot in. Her face showed no sign of surprise as she greeted them. "Hey, decided to finally show up, did you?" With a grin, she gave her hair a flip and plunged into the water. She didn't even flinch.   
"Well, what are you waiting for?" she called to them, laughing at them. The air was so distracting that Harry could only shiver as he stripped to his swimming trunks. Glancing at his friends, he saw that Ron was trembling uncontrollably, and Hermione's lips were turning. Nirry, on the other hand, looked perfectly comfortable and happy in the water.   
Harry took a deep breath. He closed his eyes, ran quickly to the edge of the lake, and threw himself in without a second thought.   
The next second, he couldn't think at all. The intense cold swept his breath away and made him numb form head to toe. He sank until his feet reached bottom, while his head was still above water. He could see Nirry splashing and diving around deeper in the water, and he shivered as a cold wind blew.   
"HOLY-" Ron said as he stepped into the water. "God, it's freezing!" Nirry swam over to them, paralyzed in the water. She looked impatient.   
"Well? Come on!"   
Harry thought she might have a screw loose in the head. "N-Nirry, it-it's _freezing_!" He could barely feel his toes now.   
Nirry glanced at him, submerged in water and his skin turning purple from the cold. Hermione stood shivering on the banks of the lake. Harry thought she smiled at them.   
"Well, duh you're cold. I'd be cold, too, if I didn't have a Heating Charm on me!" She said. Suddenly she burst into giggles.   
"You look so funny!" she gasped out, making water ripple as she shook from laughter. Harry felt the pangs of annoyance.   
"Well, what are you waiting for?" he said, curling and uncurling his toes in the water. He glanced down. The murky, inky-black water swirled around him, and he had a sudden vision of the giant squid. He started to move quickly out of the water when Nirry stopped him. She took out her wand.   
"_Thermaliaous Totalus_!"   
Three times, and she was done. Harry held his breath and then let it out in one big whoosh. He no longer felt the cold. The water was nice and cool as a spring breeze, no longer teeth-chattering. Harry relaxed as Hermione finally jumped in. A wave of water went over their heads, and it started a full water war.   
Nirry went down head-first into the water to kick up a tidal wave of water at Ron, who had just sprayed her with a water hand trick right in the eye. She kicked furiously, and was propelled to the very bottom of the ten foot deep bottom she was swimming over. Her head brushed against some seaweed.   
Nirry pulled away in disgust, swiping at the weed with her hands to shoo it away, but the seaweed wouldn't let go. Nirry clawed at it still more, but it was now intertwined with her fingers as well as her hair. She lay helplessly, trying to withdraw her hands, but every move she made seemed to entangle her even more.   
Her lungs started to feel the need for air. Nirry felt the sudden sharp pain of fear. She let out one frightened squeak which came out as bubbles, and tried even more vigorously to rip her way out of the maze of weeds, which were now becoming thicker and more rope-like.   
Just as she felt a strand of seaweed rip, she heard a huge _WHOOSH. _ Without meaning to, she opened her eyes.   
And found herself in a large, underground cave with marble pillars and two other doors on the far side similar in appearance to the one she had just fallen through. The humoungous cavern was empty of any people except for her.   
Without warning, something came out from behind her and fell heavily on top of her.   
"Nirry!" Harry's hoarse voice penetrated through her soggy hair. She looked behind her in time to see Ron spring out right before Hermione landed on top of him. They lay in a pile before the white door.   
Nirry jumped up. People were coming through the right-hand door. She held out a hand to the other three. "Shhh."   
They froze, waiting in the open, dripping wet and gripped with fear and confusion.   
"I dare say we might have time to practice more than four times a week, if necessary." At the familiar voice, Nirry straightened out slowly. Harry and Ron stared at her as if she was crazy.   
"It's okay," she mouthed, "it's-"   
Albus Dumbledore strode into the room that held Nirry, Harry, Hermione, and Ron followed by Professor McGonagall and Hagrid. He saw them the minute he walked in, and he stopped abruplty, faint amusement as well as puzzlement on his face.   
There was a shocked silence. Nirry smiled tremblingly.   
"Um, hi." 


	10. Harry Potter and the Barrier of Punishme...

Credits: All the references to Harry Potter, the world of Hogwarts and the magical community are J.K. Rowling's. All the rest   
are mine. (obviously) 

Author's note: I'll try to make them longer, sorry, I know some people (cough cough, those that read and REVIEW) are pestering me to make them slightly longer. Well, a lot longer. I love long stories myself, but somehow I'm not that much of a typer so, well, I get tired often typing. But, I will try! And you have to review. HAVE TO. Please. Only if you're low on sugar or PIXIE POWER do you have the right to not review (water's better, though). Actually, then you have even more need to review, because that will make you hyperer!- um, never mind. Just go and read. Or, first go have something to get hyper offa and come back... oh wait, you better not, you'll probably get your computer annoyed, laughing at absolutely nothing... 

Chapter 10   
There was silence for a couple of seconds while Hagrid's mouth opened wider and wider and McGonagall slowly turned purple. Professor Dumbledore, however, seemed only slightly surprised. Then suddenly, McGonagall burst out with,   
"And what do you think you're doing here? At this hour! _Swimming_? In your _bathing suits_? It's nearly 20 degrees outside (like 70 or something degrees F)! Miss Granger! Miss Dumbledore! Mr. Potter! Mr. Weas-"   
"Minerva! I think that is quite enough. I daresay they might be saying the same things to us." Dumbledore interrupted firmly. The four gave each other guilty looks, and Hermione looked deeply embarrassed. She looked down at her toes.   
"Um, we, well, I just wanted to go swimming for a bit, and..." Nirry started to say awkwardly as explanation. "I mean, I was bored so I decided to-."   
The professors stepped closer to the students, and, involuntarily, Ron, Hermione and Harry stepped back a bit. Professor tried to say something, then stopped, fuming still, glancing at Dumbledore. Nirry stood where she was, and glanced curiously around at the cavern.   
"Um, Professor? What are you guys doing here?" Her friends looked at her, aghast. Nirry thought better of it and stammered out, "you know, just asking."   
Dumbledore smiled slightly and seemed to be considering them. Professor McGonagall's face had subsided to a dull pink, and Hagrid relaxed, which made his bushy hair calm down slightly.   
"Considering your long history about finding Hogwarts mysteries, I suppose you should be given the benefit of the doubt. Come with us." At this, McGonagall seemed about ready to protest once more, but instead followed Dumbledore back into the door which they had just come from. Harry, Nirry, Hermione and Ron followed after an encouraging smile form Hagrid and his rough, "Hey, yer all right, then?"   
Once out the white cave, they emerged into a long dark corridor. For the first time, Harry remembered he was underneath the lake. He shuddered and tried not to brush accidentally against the dark, slimy walls. He could sense his companions ahead of him, and hurried to catch up.   
Up ahead, Dumbledore reached a stop and there were a few scuffles as Nirry bumped into Hagrid and Hermione bounced off of Ron. Not noticing, Dumbledore took out his wand and muttered something. A sliver of yellow light showed through the door opening of which he was opening, which got much larger when Hagrid opened it, followed by the four teenagers in swimsuits.   
Soon they were all in the room. It was not as large as the one they had just left, but contained one long table and chairs, a chandelier with yellow, flickering candles, and cheerful white marble walls.   
Dumbledore motioned towards the chairs, and the rest took their seats gratefully, suddenly conspicuous of their nearly naked bodies with only swimsuits on. They all avoided looking at each other and instead focused on Professor Dumbledore's face. Dumbledore sat at the head of the table and leaned forward, clasping his hands around each other. Hermione and Ron fidgeted nervously.   
"We all know Voldemort has returned this year," he began, and Hagrid, Ron and Professor McGonagall winced at the sound of the name, "which of course has many people, myself included, concerned about the students' safety. Therefore, I had decided to train various people in the art of defense in case Voldemort decided to show himself near Hogwarts."   
Harry, Nirry, Hermione and Ron looked slightly confused. Dumbledore noticed this and went on.   
"These rooms are for our trainees I had mentioned earlier. Here we can let other, less knowledgeable people in this particular area of Defense mingle and learn from those who do." Having finished, he sat back and waited for the torrent of questions.   
"So, this is kind of a Dueling Club or something?" Nirry asked him. Dumbledore nodded curtly.   
"Actually, it's a representation of a defensive class. Our, let's say, group name happens to be Allies, as in allies against Voldemort."   
"Who's in it?" Ron said timidly, nervously looking anywhere but Hermione.   
"Well, as you can guess, myself, Minerva, Hagrid, and every other teacher in the school. Although there are more from outside such as your parents, Mr. Weasley." Dumbledore explained patiently. Ron looked slightly dumbfounded.   
"My own parents!" he whispered to Hermione, who was just asking a question herself.   
"This is for our safety?"   
A door thudded shut and the echoes of it reached their ears. Dumbledore nodded, then looked at his watch hanging on a chain inside his robes.   
'Hagrid, may I ask you to greet our arrivals?" he said to Hagrid, who also nodded, then got up and left in the direction they had just come from.   
"Professor- was- I mean, do you know if- er," Harry said, an idea sprouting in his head.   
"Yes, Mr. Potter, your grandfather has been in contact with me." Dumbledore continued, though he had his head cocked to ward the door in order to catch any sound that came within. Harry looked confused once again.   
"I haven't heard from him in a while and, well, I just wondered..." he trailed off.   
"Quite understandable. And now, my dear students, I believe it is time for you to be in your dormitories. I have some additional business to take care of." 

* * *

Harry, Nirry, Hermione and Ron returned a half hour later to their dormitory, which was now empty. They collapsed into easy chairs in front of the fireplace, thinking about what had just happened. For a while all they did was stare at the flames. At last, Ron began with,   
"Why is everyone else still in bed? It couldn't be that much later, could it?"   
Hermione, Ron, and Nirry glanced at their watches and then tried to answer at the same time. Harry looked at his wrist as well, but remembered he had thrown out his watch during the summer, and had not had any time to get a new one.   
"It's nearly ten o'clock, and it's Saturday tomorrow."   
At this, Harry leapt up into the air.   
"What? Bloody hell, I've got our first game tomorrow! Good night!" He sprinted in the direction of his dormitory, waving a hasty good night at his friends. The other three looked at each other.   
"Well then I guess I'd better get some sleep in case I'm needed for some strange reason tomorrow at the game," Nirry said awkwardly, "um, you guys, I'm sorry I made you come with me swimming- I mean, but, we did find out some interesting things, didn't we?"   
Hermione smiled quickly. "Oh, no, Nirry, it's okay. It's probably a good thing that we saw them, or else we would have gone through all those things, and not known a thing about it." there she stopped, then began once more, tentatively, "On the other hand, I hope Professor McGonagall doesn't give us detention or anything, imagine if it had been Snape..."   
"Oh, come on, Hermione, you know she wouldn't have done anything to us, Dumbledore was there. Snape wasn't there, and that was good, he might have tried to expel us all. I reckon that's why Hagrid's been so weird, too, he's had to keep it secret..." Ron chipped in. Nirry grinned mischievously at them, which caused both Hermione and Ron to wonder if she might have been going to plan some other hare-brained scheme. However, all she said was,   
"You guys are so cute, you know," she said, starting to stand up and stretching.   
"What?" asked Hermione wrinkling her forehead at her. The two were best friends, sharing the bond of being the only girls in their Harry, Nirry, Hermione and Ron group. Hermione had no idea what she was talking about.   
"Well, the way you act around each other, you're just so- cute!" and leaving Ron blushing and Hermione openmouthed, she traced Harry's steps up the stairs.   
'But- what- why," Hermione spluttered, trying not to turn pink.   
Realizing that they were alone together, Ron and Hermione looked at each other. They both stood up. Hermione noticed Ron's ears were still red from Nirry's teasing. She hoped hers weren't, what would he think if he saw it?   
"Hermione, er," stammered Ron. Hermione turned to look at him and waited patiently for whatever he had to say.   
"Yes?" she asked, gazing into Ron's eyes, only inches from her own face.   
"Er- well, who do you think will win tomorrow's game?" Ron said finally.   
A little disappointed, Hermione answered,   
"Oh- Gryffindor. Good night, Ron." With one last fleeting glance at Ron, who was looking as if he could have smacked himself, she left him alone in the common room.   
"What did I have to that for?" he moaned, putting his face into his hands and burying his head. "Why can't I ever talk to her? No wonder she went for Krum last year..."   
And Hermione, only halfway up the stairs, smiled. 

A/N: Ooops! I just realized that Dumbledore said, Harry's GRANDfather, sorry, I meant GODfather. Sorry. Review! 


	11. Harry Potter and the Barrier of Punishme...

Credits: All the references to Harry Potter, the world of Hogwarts and the magical community are J.K. Rowling's. All the rest   
are mine. 

Author's Note: Sorry I haven't written much on this story, peoples... I've got exams, a huge swim meet coming up, gotta buy presents and stuff... you know how it is... don't you? Thank you so much for the review! I live on reviews! Please review this one? And you have to, because I made it longer, just for you peeps... enjoy! 

Chapter 11   
Harry woke up at about 7:30, the latest he'd ever woken up on a Quidditch match day. It was Saturday and they were playing against Slytherin, first match of the year.   
"Harry!" The loud whisper made him start in surprise and blink at the morning sun that was now streaming through the gap in his curtains. Harry creaked out of bed to find not only Ron but Hermione and Nirry there as well. They all had identical expressions of impatience on their faces. The other beds were empty, and no doubt the other guys were at the breakfast table, looking forward to the first game of Quidditch this year.   
"What are you waiting for?" Nirry asked impatiently. "Hurry up, we're going to be in the Great Hall for breakfast. Your match starts in an hour!"   
She had been disappointed to know that she would not be needed for this particular game, but she'd soon gotten over it, saying loftily that, after all, it _was_ her very first Quidditch game she'd ever been to, and she was going to enjoy every single minute of it, no matter if she was playing or just watching. All the Quidditch players had been in fine health, and, as Ron pointed out, it was the first year in which Harry had not yet visited the hospital wing before the first Quidditch match of the year.   
Once Harry'd had a glass of orange juice at the table, he'd woken up fully to feel snakes dancing around in his stomach. As always, Hermione was pressuring him to eat a piece of toast.   
"Hermione, I fine, I fine, I really don't need that..." Harry said nervously. He glanced around and saw that his fellow Quidditch players were gone, and shaking slightly, he got up as well, clutching his Firebolt.   
His friends chorused a "good luck", and with that encouragement, he left the table.   
"Well," said Nirry, getting up as well, "let's go get good seats, okay?" 

* * *

"And welcome to the first Quidditch match of the year, Gryffindor against Slytherin!" yelled Lee, who, as always, was sitting in his seat and holding the large megaphone he used during matches. Professor McGonagall sat right next to him, presumably to ward off any offensive words that might come out of Lee's mouth.   
Nirry squinted and found Harry, looking uncannily calm and surrounded with an air of deep confidence. The team Captains were glowering at each other.   
PHWEET! Madam Hooch's whistle blasted through the air and the players took off.   
"There all looking good this year… and our game starts off with Alicia Spinnet, Gryffindor, with the ball, still got the ball, passes it to Angelina also Gryffindor, fastest yet, I'm thinking, you know, intensive training peri- oh, no, Halfredo Hutchins' has got the ball, Halfredo with Slytherin...and it's back to Gryffindor, Katie Bell of Gryffindor, takes the ball, whoa, nice loop around the Keeper, Katie- and- YES! SHE SCORES!!!!!"   
Gryffindor cheers mingled with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff cheers, plus quite a few Slytherin boos. The game progressed onwards and Nirry sat at the edge of her seat, eyes sparkling. She was unconsiously leaning first this way and that way as if she was on a broom while Harry moved this way and that through the crowd of Bludgers and Beaters. Ron and Hermione were too engrossed in the game to notice.   
"Haffaway's showing off his moves there, nice broom sweep around Tredsuch, Haffaway captures the ball and passes it down to Angelina- watch out, Angie!- oh, good, there she goes, and- no! Intercepted by the Bludger coming her way! Quaffle is taken by Hutchins' once more, and- oh, _no_, Slytherin scores, dam-"   
Professor quickly reached out and blocked the rest of Lee's word's into the megaphone. The majority of the crowd booed through the fanatical cheering of the Slytherins.   
"Come on, that's 10-10!" muttered Nirry, excitement coursing through her with every second of the game. She glanced over to where Harry hovered, high up, in the game. While she watched, he seemed to suddenly turn and then be moving in slow motion, until Nirry realized he was going into a dive. Across the field, Malfoy had seen the Snitch as well, and they moved rapidly towards a single point, the Snitch, which could be seen glittering near the tops of the Forbidden Forest trees.   
"They've spotted the Snitch! Seekers Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy are racing toward the ball..." roared Lee, nearly jumping out of his seat in excitement. McGonagall was on her feet as well, yelling her throat out at Harry to hurry up.   
"Come on, now, Harry, go!" yelled Nirry, oblivious to the shouting going on around her. She could just make out Harry's hand reach out, saw Malfoy's hand reach out as well... "He's going to catch it!" she shouted, voice reaching a peak.   
Beneath them, she saw a a Slytherin Beater reach out and send large black ball racing towards them.   
"Wathc out!" she yelled hoarsely, only slightly worried. Harry almost had it, they were going to win... She could see Harry's fingers brush the Snitch, nearly grasping it, when the Bludger hit home.   
With a sickening crack, the heavy black Bludger plowed into the two enemies and hurled them to the ground. The Snitch had disappeared. Everyone around them jumped straight up into the air, yelling out.   
"Harry!" yelled three voices, panicking, and they plowed through the mass of concerned people gathering round the injured party.   
Harry sat up just as they got to him, and stared around in a state of shock. There was no sign of blood, Nirry noted with relief. He smiled slightly and opened his closed hand, where a glitter of gold was seen.  
"We won!" cried someone next to Nirry, Hermione, and Ron, and the chant was carried through the crowd. "We won! Gryffindor won!"   
A moan stirred through Nirry's senses, and she looked around. Her gaze fell on Malfoy, lying crumpled and limp next to Harry. His head was covered in sickening, brightly-colored, red blood which was already seeping wetly into his long green Quidditch robes.   
"Excuse me, excuse me," came the voice of Albus Dumbledore. He took one look at Draco lying nearly unconscious on the ground, then conjured up flying stretchers that whisked him and Harry away within seconds. Madam Pomfrey was already running up the slope, leading McGonagall and Snape.   
Nirry looked at her friends. "Well, what are we waiting for?" she asked, then launched into a sprint that followed the teachers up to Hogwarts. 

* * *

"Why can't we get in?" wailed Hermione. The rest of the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams, Nirry, and Ron stood next to her.   
"Hospital regulations," said Madam Pomfrey in a busy, irritable voice. "These boys have just gotten hit by a Bludger, of all things! And they say they've put dragons at the school entrances..."   
Through the window, they could see that Harry was sitting upright with a violently orange liquid standing in a glass next to him, waiting to be drunk.   
"He's awake!" they protested, and moved into the room, flanked by a very annoyed Madam Pomfrey who was nearly levitating.   
"Oh, all right, but only for _five minutes_, you understand? Five minutes! And make sure he drinks his potion!" And, grumbling, she went off to tend to Draco, who lay in the bed adjacent to Harry and still unconscious. The Slytherin team made their way towards Draco.   
"Harry!" cried the remaining people. Harry tried to smile at them all but it was clear he was still shaky. Not even the Weasley twins could find anything funny in this situation.   
"I'm fine," Harry kept insisting, "Malfoy was the one who got hit by the Bludger, not me..."   
Russ Haffaway's eyes shone. "I'm sorry about what happened, of course, Harry, but- that was great! Wonderful! I can't believe you caught it, we won..."   
Harry grinned faintly. "Yeah, we won..."   
There was a knock at the door, and Albus Dumbledore marched inside, accompanied by Professors McGonagall and Snape who were sweating and looked very worried indeed.   
Dumbledore forced a strained smile, directed at both Harry and Draco. "Very, very unfortunate, Harry. Hit by a Bludger... And Mr. Malfoy, is he all right?"   
Professor Snape walked to Draco's bed where his teammates were huddled around with difficulty in the small space. Dumbledore wore a highly concerned look as he examined Draco, which was heightened by the fact that his robes were still covered in blood.   
"Poppy?" he asked, and Madam Pomfrey came out of the accompanying room, carrying another bottle of another potion, this time purple.   
"He'll be all right, Professor," she said, only slightly more civil to Dumbledore than the rest. "Very bad concussion, now, he'll probably have to stay here for another day or two."   
Her gaze travelled around the hospital wing, and Nirry could almost swear she saw smoke coming out of her ears.   
"Didn't I say five minutes?" she suddenly gasped, shooing them all away with a wave of her hand. "Yes, I did, now, Miss Dumbledore, Miss Granger... and you! Out! My patients need rest, this has been a very very painful ordeal for them!"   
Nirry felt a wave of annoyance at the buzzing nurse, but then caught a glimpse of Harry's face through the horde of people in her way. He was fast asleep. They could see Professor Dumbledore inside, talking quietly with Madam Pomfrey.   
Quietly and subdued, the group went outside to wait for the full recovery of their friends. 

* * *

Back in the common room, everyone wore an air of worriedness. When Nirry and the others had gotten back, the rest of the Gryffindors had bombarded them with questions on Harry's health.   
Now Nirry, Ron and Hermione sat in armchairs by the fireplace. Outside, the sun was shining faintly, which seemed very ironic, concerning what had just happened. The entire atmosphere was glum. Nirry, Ron and Hermione were moaning about Harry and Draco.   
"Do you think he'll be all right?," asked Nirry for the hundredth time, "I hope he's okay."   
"Oh, come on, Nirry. Harry'll be all right, he has to be." Ron said exasperatedly yet worried at the same time.   
"And, well, what about Malfoy?" she continued. Ron and Hermione seemed a little taken aback.   
"Malfoy?" they said together, as if they couldn't imagine why Nirry was feeling sorry for him.   
"Yeah, Malfoy. Harry said he was the one who was hit, not him... I bet he's feeling crappy..."   
Without warning and before Ron could comment, the portrait door swung open. There was total silence for a moment as they all looked with bated breath- was it Harry?   
Professor McGonagall stepped into the room with a grim expression on her face. Ron and Hermione and every other person in the room other than Nirry felt a flash of foreboding. They remembered visibly all the times McGonagall had entered with bad news.   
"I need not inform you of Mr. Potter's condition, as you probably already know about it.." and here she coughed a bit, looking in Nirry's direction. Rather than feeling embarrassed, Nirry felt another rush of annoyance. "In any case, I came here today to announce that today Professor Dumbledore has decided to let Hogwarts students go to Hogsmeade today. That is, Hogwarts students above third-years."   
There was an intake of relieved breath.   
"Our Headmaster feels it will be as safe as possible under the circumstances. We have posted dragons at all school entrances," ("Hagrid's doing, probably," whispered Hermione to the others) ,"and there will be a number of qualified and trained adults from the Ministry supervising you."   
The three exchanged meaningful glances. Professor was talking about the Allies, obviously. However, Nirry was slightly confused.   
"Hogsmeade?" she asked. The rest of the common room had perked up considerably with this announcement. There was even faint laughter as people headed toward their dormitories to grab cloaks and money bags. McGonagall left hastily.   
"What are we waiting for? We'll be able to see if Honeyduke's has got any new candies..." Ron said, pleased. The others got up as well and followed, within all the rising auras around them. 

* * *

"Oh, this is soooo COOL!," said Nirry in awe. "Yummy."   
They were in Honeydukes with about fifty other Hogwarts students, all milling about and choosing sweets. Nirry was circling round and round, grabbing stuff off of counters, examining them in delight, then stacking them on the counter for the cashier to ring up her order.   
"This is even better than the mall-" she breathed. She ran over to where Ron and Hermione stood, arguing between a new kind of fudge (whipped cream and rasberry flavoring) or a kind of candy cane which blew up in a sparkle of warm fireworks when you broke it in half (Periwinkle Flames) for Harry with difficulty.   
"I love this shop! It's just so- cool!" she gasped. Her face was flushed with excitement. Ron shook his head mockingly, still motioning his hand toward the handmade fudge.   
"Cool?" -although he pronounced it as ke-you-ll- "Honestly, Nirry, sometimes you sound so- American." he continued in an overly English accent. Nirry made a face at him.   
"Foine then, beay that way, wount you? And I'm Ca**_nad_**ian, not American, thank you very much." she said, mockingly imitating Ron. She gave a shake of her head and then steered them both to the counter. "Get both things for Harry, I know he'll love them. I'm going to finish buying my stuff and then- whoa! Look!"   
Everyone within range of her voice turned to where she was pointing at. Outside the window, they could see the Weasley twins setting up their temporary booth in the shelter of the Three Broomsticks. There was a rush as people crowded to finish buying their sweets and run outside in the wind. Nirry, Hermione and Ron joined them.   
The Weasleys were selling much the same things as their booth in Diagon Alley, and Nirry and Ron bought everything in sight. Hermione refrained buying as much as they and even looked guilty about the single small Water-Quill (squirts water at the person using it) she bought.   
"I don't know even why I bought it It's not not as if I'm going to be using it- imagine the points I'd lose for Gryffindor!" She muttered, berating herself when the wind brought a chill through their thick cloaks. They headed inside the Three Broomsticks for a quick butterbeer. Nirry and Ron paid no attention to Hermione and instead compared their newly- bought items. Nirry's bag was now so heavy it was all she could do to haul it along into the bar. Ron had maybe half of Nirry's stuff worth in his bag, but he still had difficulty carrying it.   
Once they'd ordered their butterbeers, the three looked around the cosy, warm room. Quite a few Hogwarts students and teachers took up most of the booths in the room. Nirry gazed curiously around fore a while, then gasped.   
"Is- wait a sec- this is really good!- that a hag? Mmmm!" she asked, pointing to a huddled figure at the bar and guzzling the rest of her beer at the same time. Hermione and Ron looked briefly and nodded absently. They were discussing the dragons they'd seen at the entrance to Hogsmeade.   
"Did you see the one with white sparks shooting out of its back?" said Ron, taking a swig of his butterbeer. "Looked even worse than Harry's Horntail last year..."   
"Harry's what?" interrupted Nirry.   
"That was a Sumarian Springer," replied Hermione, then turned to Nirry. "Last year, Harry was in the Triwizard Tournament, didn't you- oh, right..."   
Nirry felt frustrated as she always felt when her friends would start talking about their previous years at Hogwarts. "Well, no, I don't know. Tell me," she demanded, draining the glass with a contented sigh.   
Ron and Hermione exchanged a stricken look, but before either of them could say a word, there came a terrified scream from outside the bar. After a moment, others soon joined it, growing even louder and more terrified, and Nirry, Hermione and Ron glanced out the window to see what the commotion was all about. They could see people screaming wildly and running around.   
As far as Nirry could see, there was nothing on the ground, but Hermione suddenly gasped and said,   
"Oh, no... Ron- Nirry, look up..."   
They looked up. The silhouette of a huge skull with a snake protuding out of its mouth stared down at them, clearly visible in the deepening dusk.   
Ron turned sheer white and said, for the first time in his life, "Voldemort!"   
Nirry felt the fear grip her. She set her lips in a firm line.   
Voldemort was here.   
  
  



	12. Harry Potter and the Barrier of Punishme...

Credits: HP BELONGS TO JK AND EVERYONE ELSE DOES TOO!!!! 

Author's Note: I know I haven't beemn posting very often (sorry), but I had exams... YUCKY!!! And now I'm finally over them! And I think I passed every one! So, now I'm celebrating by posting this... erm, yeah... so, please read and review! 

Chapter 12   
For one split second, there was silence. The next, pandemonium broke out.   
Screams erupted from the mouths of people in the Three Broomsticks, and they jostled with each other to get out of the way, scraping chairs and knocking over tankards in their rush to get outdoors. Nirry, Ron and Hermione sat, staring out of the window in disbelief. The giant skull outside glared down at them evilly, as if able to see their faces.   
A small man in long, black cloak and black mask ran across their range of vision. He was clearly shouting something to the crowd of black-robed followers running behind him. All had their wands out and all were acting as though they were having the time of theirs lives, blasting shops and shattering windows in their way.   
"Oh, no, oh no, its- the Death Eaters- they're here..." Hermione began whispering frantically. Ron turned to her, eyes wide. His words were spoken in a sarcastic yet terrified whisper.   
"Really, Hermione, I rather thought they were something else, like fluffy little bunny rab-"   
Without warning, a bright-yellow spark of light rammed through the glass, shattering it, then going on to graze Nirry's forehead and disappear into the darkened pub. She gave a small gasp of surprise, then seemed to regained her senses. Ron and Hermione had leapt up from their seats when the spell shot through the window to avoid the glass. Her hands shaking slightly, Nirry reached up to her forehead to feel a long, wide cut raking her hairline. Her hand came away slick with blood.   
Hermione looked with horror at her head. "Nirry! Oh, no, come on, we've got to get out of here!"   
Nirry shook her head. There was no pain from the blood-drenched cut; rather, a deep feeling of numbness was spreading from her forehead down her face.   
"You guys, let's go, come on..." she got up quickly amid her friends' concerned looks, then forced a smile on her face, which was hard to do as the numbness was spreading from her forehead slowly down to her mouth. She shook her head again.   
"I'm fine," she said impatiently. Outside, they could hear screams and yelps coming from different directions. Steathily, Nirry began to move toward the door, motioning for the two to follow.   
"Careful," murmured Nirry as they shuffled outside, barely moving her lips, "they're still here..."   
Death Eaters were chasing people around, enjoying their screams and terrified yells. Nirry looked around for an escape route, and spotted a narrow gap between shops.   
"Over there, we've got them surrounded!" a voice roared through the night. Nirry could just make out Professor McGonagall's profile as she herded villagers safely to another side and motioned for another batch of wizards to come forth. The Death Eaters began to scatter, dispersing to hide in the woods.   
From their cranny in the wall, Nirry poked her head out. She could see her breath, coming in short gasps in the deepening twilight. Not ten meters away, they could see Allies and Death Eaters shooting spells at each other, shouting themselves hoarse and running to avoid the other's wands. Nirry gestured to the others, careful not to make a sound in case someone should notice. She dashed across the street into the welcome darkness of the nearby trees, marking the beginning of the Forbidden Forest. Panting, Hermione and Ron arrived seconds later.   
"Are they mad?" gasped Ron in a whisper, looking nervously around them. The tall black trees muffled sounds, and the eerie quiet seemed foreboding. The yells in Hogsmeade sounded far away. Nirry felt the hard edge of her wand sticking up from inside her robes, and reached inside to withdraw it.   
"Right," said Hermione nervously, taking her own wand out as well.   
"_Lumos_," they whispered, and dim lights at the end of their wands lighted the damp forest around them. Quiet, restrained footsteps could be heard all around them, as if the owners were trying hard not to run. Nirry, Ron and Hermione backed up nervously into the forest. The Dark Mark had now almost disappeared; only a faint trace could be seen above the Three Broomsticks.   
"Grloo-" Nirry started to say, then panicked. Hermione and Ron looked at her curiously. She put her hand with the dried blood up to her now catatonic lips.   
Nirry tried in vain to move her mouth, but it was fruitless- she had no control over her face now. When she struggled to move even her head, not even a slight twitching of the muscle gave way. Ron looked stricken.   
"Nirry! Talk!" he demanded, then whirled around at an unexpected sound from the forest. An owl hooted in the distance, and they could glimpse flashes of bright light through gaps in the leafs. Hermione managed to look deep in thought while twisting her head nervously around.   
"I think it's probably- no, it couldn't be the Body Bind, what kind of spell would that be? No, it's some kind of Dark Magic...," she chattered, nearly stumbling on a root. Nirry pinched her lip with her fingers, then tried to say something.   
"Ung- ung cahn- speh...wah ih, ik?"   
Ron and Hermione's terrified faces had turned pure white, staring at something over Nirry's shoulder.   
"_Avada Kedavra_!" came an evil, cold voice from the right of their spot in the trees. Nirry, nerves heightened by adrenaline, saw the green spell coming as if in slow motion, and tackled Hermione and Ron facedown onto the forest floor, pushing them down with her hands and joining them a second later. As a bright green light the shade of the Dark Mark lit the scene, Nirry, still falling and in slow motion, saw a beam of the light aimed straight at her head, evil yet familiar red eyes glaring at her from atop a tall body.   
"Nooo!!" she moaned softly in her throat, the sound not passing from her numbed lips. For the second time that evening, she felt a white-hot spell penetrate her forehead, passing right through her- but this time, it was not sideways that it passed her, but right through her head. With the force of a bullet, Nirry landed on her back in the earth and saw no more.   
"_Stupefy_!" The usually menacing voice of Professor Snape cut through the still night air- a second later, they heard the telltale whooshing sound which meant Voldemort was gone. They were deep in the forest- not even the distant screams from Hogsmeade could be heard here. Suppressed silence rang in the ears of Hermione, Ron, and Snape.   
Hermione and Ron wobbled to their feet, staring, stricken, down at Nirry. Hysterical tears were verging on the edge of Hermione's gray, shocked face, and Ron was staring in disbelief, trembling from head to foot. Snape watched them with cool eyes, eyeing Nirry's corpse with something almost like pity in his face.   
Ron gave a great gasp.   
"What happened?" asked Nirry, suddenly opening her eyes with a start and sitting straight up. All numbness from the previous spell seemed to have melted away. She sat up, her head clear, only to find both Hermione and Ron staring at her, dumbstruck and openmouthed for the tenth time that night.   
Severus Snape felt all the blood rush to his usually chalk-white face.   
Nirry stood up, very much alive. 

* * *

"Death Eaters, dragons- it's too much, I tell you!" The voice of Madam Pomfrey seemed near tears. "When _I_ was a girl, nobody would have ever- why, I declare, another one? Headmaster, I thought you had more sense than this!"   
Wordlessly, Nirry, Ron and Hermione entered the hospital wing, which was nearly bursting with the people in it. Madam Pomfrey raised her voice over the chaos.   
"Teachers! Headmaster, please... everybody, out, out, out!" trying to shoo all the people out, most of whom seemed to be teachers with slight burns and students exchanging words of what had just happened, Madam Pomfrey's harrassed face was seen, jumping up and down. Nobody seemed to want to leave.   
"Headmaster- if I may speak to you for a moment..." Snape left Nirry's side. Dumbledore turned with difficulty.   
"Severus?"   
"Yes, Professor-" Snape began in a very low voice, checking on Nirry out of the corner of his eye. People had at last begun to heed Madam Pomfrey, and the flow was moving on towards the door. The current of people was slowly pushing Nirry, Ron and Hermione out the door.   
"Privately?" asked Dumbledore, noticing the unusual whiteness of Snape's usual yellow face. Madam Pomfrey bustled over to them, mixing a bright purple potion as she motioned to the last scragglers out the door.   
"Really, Headmaster, these people need rest! They've just been through a very-"   
"Yes, yes, Poppy, I quite understand, we were just leaving..." Dumbledore led the way out of the door, closely followed by Snape. The Headmaster's eyes, though twinkling as usual, were tired and kept darting around nervously. Once outside, he looked around to check if the coast was clear.   
"Follow me, Severus," he said very calmly, then took his wand out and tapped the tapestry opposite them, a rather dull-looking landscape. A dark hole appeared.   
"Yes, Professor," murmured Snape, following Dumbledore with a grim expression on his sallow face. 

* * *

Nirry led the way to the common room, with Ron and Hermione trailing her. They seemed to be slightly in awe and fear of her.   
"Calamilana," they chorused, and the Fat Lady swung open silently.   
Unusually grim and ashen faced people could be seen inside. The three kept their heads down until they reached a far corner of the room, where they sat down in their usual chairs. They sat for almost a whole minute in silence.   
"Okay now. What's the _matter_ with you guys? You're acting as though I came back from the dead or something!" exclaimed Nirry in a low voice, as to not disturb any of the others around them. Ron and Hewrmione looked awkward.   
"Well- you see, Nirry, actually..." Hermione trailed off.   
"You did, sort of," Ron said uncomfortably. Nirry glanced at him and gave a hollow chuckle.   
"_What_?" she replied uncertainly, eyes narrowing, "I did?"   
"Don't you remember?" asked Hermione in a hushed voice.   
"Well, I do remember when Voldemort-" Ron flinched- "came, and then he shouted somehting and then I felt something on my head... but- but that's it!" Nirry said, raising her voice impatiently.   
Hermione choked. "Yes, but...do you remember the _spell_ that You-Know-Who attacked you with?" she asked Nirry, eyes large.   
Nirry shook her head, racking her brains.   
"No." With that, Ron fidgeted nervously.   
"He- he said, _Avada Kedavra_, Nirry," he said almost exasperatedly. Nirry looked blank.   
"And that is...?" she said expectantly, glancing from Hermione's worried face to Ron's white one.   
"Oh, Nirry, that's- that's the killing curse," Hermione seemed close to tears.   
Nirry's face went under a series of transformations- first she looked confused, then the blood rushed from her face and then...   
"So... I'm supposed to be..." she gulped.   
"Dead." 


	13. Harry Potter and the Barrier of Punishme...

Credits: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter and company. I own this- at least, I _wrote_ it... 

Author's Note: I just wanted to say THANK YOU GUYS for REVIEWING!!!!!! I luv ya all!!!! I really like reviews... Anyways, enjoy please and review if you want- which you do of course...: )...I love vacation. And when you're bored, hey, there's nothing else to do but write, eh???? Ahem... of course not... you go and read HP!!!! and HP fanfiction... and then you go to sleep... :) happy reading ^_^ (HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!) you know what? I'M PEELING!!!!!!!!!!!! Arg !!!! its sooo annoying, I've never ever peeled before in my life, and we go on vacation and my forehead happens to burn and GUESS WHAT???? I PEEL!!! I NEVER PEEL!!!!!!! It's disgusting!!!!!!!! Yucko!!!!!!!! It's snowing when I brush my hair outta my eyes!!!!!!!! :) Wonderful ain't it. REVIEW. 

Chapter 13   
Dumbledore looked unusually serious. Snape shifted nervously under the headmaster's piercing gaze.   
"And, Severus, you're positive Voldemort tried to deliberately kill Nirry?" he said at last. He seemed to be deep in thought.   
"Yes, I heard him right before I got to him, the girl was right before him-" Snape replied quickly. Dumbledore loked at him sharply.   
"Voldemort caught no glimpse of you?"   
Snape nodded. Dumbledore then veered off the course he had been pacing on the floor of his office and sat at his desk.   
"There can only be two reasons for this.." he mused, his hands absentmindedly twiddling with a quill. "Yes, two reasons, very peculiar..."   
"Headmaster?" interrupted Snape awkwardly, "perphaps- that is, there is nothing else to do, right? About Hogsmeade?"   
Dumbledore nodded. "Severus, if you could go back to your common room, make sure they're all right?"   
Snape nodded slightly and then exited quickly, leaving Dumbledore still at his desk. Once the door had shut, Dumbledore sighed.   
"We're going to have very hard times ahead of us..." he shook his head, almost pityingly. "My poor Nirry." 

* * *

"Harry?" three voices asked tentatively.   
"What?" Harry answered groggily, sitting up and putting his glasses on. Nirry, Hermione and Ron were seated on either side of him.   
"Are you- okay?" asked Nirry anxiously, peering into his face, her big hazel eyes gazing into his. Harry tried to smile, and found that he could. He sat up all the way, leaning against the head of the bed.   
"Yeah, I am- hey, what happened to them?" He'd seen all the other occupied beds around them, full of witches and wizards from the Hogsmeade attack.   
The other three looked at each other. Hermione cleared her throat. "Oh, Harry- you see, there- there was an- attack." Harry looked at the others' faces, who were carefully avoiding his. "An- an attack? You mean, an attack, as in, Voldemort attack?"   
Ron didn't wince. "Yes. An attack. And- well, he attacked us." With this, Harry's face looked shocked.   
"Voldie came up to us-" Nirry began, but Hermione and Ron interrupted with two large snorts.   
"_Voldie_?" they gasped, giggling hysterically. "_Voldie_?"   
Nirry looked annoyed. "Well, yeah, Voldie. What do you think?" Harry started to smile as well. "What is so funny about VOLDIE????"   
"Well- _Voldie_, I mean, you don't really- is that some kind of American thing?" Ron laughed, laying his head on Hermione's shoulders.   
"I am Ca_na_dian," sniffed Nirry haughtily. Then she faltered. "Well, I _think_ I am..."   
Harry stopped smiling. "Well, what happened? Vold-" (he paused) ,"Voldemort came up to you, and...?"   
Nirry was pleased to see that Ron and Hermione had stopped laughing hysterically. "He kind of raised his wand and shouted something, and then green light came out of it, and then-"   
"Nirry pushed us to the ground, and then-"   
"We thought she was dead. Voldie-er, You-Know-Who, he'd yelled the killing curse at her..." Ron finished. Harry looked confused.   
"But that would mean that she was- do you think- Nirry, maybe- maybe you dodged it?" He said, trying to think. Nirry shook her head gravely.   
"No, it didn't- look, you can feel it- it pierced my head, it actually went through it." She took Harry's hand in her own and brought it up to her hairline.   
Harry felt a slight bump, like a cut, but not a cut- it was a thin line that marked the edge of her hair, a clear raised edge that was about four centimeters in length. Harry felt a turmoil of emotions in his head.   
"But- it actually passed _through_?" he stammered, withdrawing his hand slowly from her head. Nirry nodded and started to speak but was cut off.   
"You three again! It's been four minutes, now, really, this boy has been in considerable pain- out, please..." Madam Pomfrey came bustling over to where they sat, stirring a a purple something in her hands. With good-byes for Harry, Nirry, Hermione and Ron left, feeling a bit deflated- Nirry most of all. She ran her hands throught her hair, carefully avoiding the bump. Then she walked out behind the others. 

* * *

Over the next few days, an air of anxiety had settled over everything. The Gryffindor fifth years came into their Potions class on Monday very bleary-eyed- all had stayed awake talking in whispers about the attack. Snape stood at the head of the classrom wearing a very peculiar look- he seemed to be looking every where but at the tables where Ron and Hermione, and Harry and Nirry sat. Over at the Slytherin side, Crabbe and Goyle sat like rocks, the space beside them empty. Draco Malfoy was still in the infirmary- intensive care.   
"Very well, we will be making our Sleeping Potions today. Get your things ready."   
He began to lecture them about their ingredients, but nobody was paying that much attention. They stared into their cauldrons and half-heartedly threw in ingredients. Even Hermione looked preoccupied.   
"Ten points from Gryffindor, Weasley." Ron had accidentally dropped his beaker of boiling heron's hair, and it spread all over his shoes. Disgruntled, Ron grabbed a towel and scrubbed at his feet.   
"Oh Ron, don't worry- it doesn't do anything.." said Hermione in a low voice, "it doesn't even stain!"   
"How would you like to have bird hair all over your shoes?" he replied, frustrated. Harry glanced over from where he and Nirry stirred their own completed potion in silence.   
"She's right, Ron- it's only a bit of hair, what's the difference?" he hissed. Nirry suddenly gave a start.   
"Hey!"   
The Potions class stared at her. Snape shot her a weird look- almost as if he were afraid, thought Harry.   
"Um, sorry," Nirry mumbled, going slightly red. "But, Harry, it's Halloween." she whispered after making sure no one was looking at her.   
"No it's not," he said automatically before he realized this was true. It _was_ October 31. With everything that had happened- the Quidditch game, the Hogsmeade attack-, everyone must have been confused.   
"Amazing as that may be- that is, your knowing the days of the week- Potter, five more points will be taken from Gryffindor for your disruptance of my class." Snape breezed by their table, voice even more sneering than usual, though they couldn't see his expression. Nirry made a face at his back.   
"You know, he _was_ the one who actually saved us- me..." Nirry whispered to Harry who gave a start.   
"He _did_?" he asked out of the side of his mouth.   
"Yup." 

* * *

Sure enough, when they came into the Great Hall for the feast, it was decorated with the usual pumkins and bats that always adorned the Hall for Halloween. Most people's faces showed an expression as though they were determined to have fun tonight and to forget about the attack and everything else.   
"Oh, how cool," exclaimed Nirry, turning round and round to see all the decorations fully. "Hey, Harry, look! They're little pumkins with- OH!!!! live hats!!!!"   
Harry, Ron and Hermione looked amused at Nirry's amazement. "Yeah, look- you can see the pumpkins making faces at the suits of armor," said Ron, trying not to laugh.   
Nirry sat down, still staring at the pumkins. "You guys, come on. Admit it, this is cool."   
"You should see the Christmas decorations," Hermione said, pulling out a chair at the Gryffindor table and sitting down. "Last year, especially..."   
Nirry sat down, then turned to her friends with a quizzical look. "What happened last year that was so special?"   
Hermione and Ron glanced at Harry. "Erm- well.. Harry was in the Triwizard Tournament..." Hemrione said hesitanlty.   
Harry pretended not to hear them talking. He hadn't thought about Cedric Diggory that much lately, and he wanted it to stay that way. Nirry saw Harry's sudden movement, and hastily added,   
"Well, I mean, it's okay if you don't tell me, it's just that, well, you know, I only came here this year, and..." she trailed off.   
They had no time to answer, since Dumbledore just stood up and was making a speech about the Hogsmewade attack and how they should be careful, however, the attack came as a surprise for everyone involved.   
The four at the table listened in silence, though Nirry looked slightly preoccupied.   
As Dumbledore sat down, the plates in front of them suddenly filled with scrumptious food and drink. They all helped themselves to heaping plates full of their favorites. Nirry loooked in distaste at Harry's, Ron's, and Hermione's glasses of pumpkin juice.   
"I can't see how you guys can drink that stuff," she said, taking a long sip of her water. "I mean, pumpkin juice? Gross."   
"You like pumpkin pie," Harry pointed out, nodding towards the slab of pie on her plate.   
"Yeah, well, pie- it's different." she took a bite from the mentioned food, then went on in a casual voice, "So, guys, what was your life before Hogwarts?"   
Hermione gave a snort. "You sound like Rita Skeeter."   
Nirry cocked her head, meaning,_ Who's Rita Skeeter? _Hermione sighed and looked at Harry.   
"She was a reporter- I caught her last year, she was listening in illegally on conversations here..." Hermione said nervously then took a huge bite of steak and sheperd's pie.   
"Oh, _last_ year," Nirry said, pretending to block the words with her hands as if she was restricted to them. "Of _course_, last year..."   
"Look, okay, I lived with my -erm- relatives, the Dursleys. On my 11th birthday, Hagrid came and took me to get my school stuff and I found out I happened to be a wizard. Come on, Nirry, tell us about yourself," Harry interrupted the awkward conversation. Nirry looked slightly abashed.   
"Well..."   
"Where were you born?" asked Ron. Basically, they knew next to nothing about Nirry's past life.   
"I don't know. I mean, I know I was born in a hospital, butI don't know where," said Nirry, concentrating on her food. "I think I've lived all my life in Canada, the farm- the people there took me in a a sort on permanent foster home, I guess because of my mother's wishes. I think she's dead now, I'm not sure."   
The other three looked slightly awkward. "Oh," they said in tiny voices.   
Nirry looked a bit more cheerful. "Yeah, well, who cares. And if you're wondering about my father, well, I never knew him." Nirry gave a slight cough, looking for a change of subject. "So, well, that's enough about my fascinating personal life... um, how's Malfoy, Harry?"   
Harry started. "Er- Malfoy?" he asked, as if wondering why on earth anyone in their right minds would ask about Malfoy. Nirry looked at him expectantly. "Well- I guess he's okay, why?"   
"Oh, just asking," Nirry said nonchalantly, turning her attention back to her food. Harry returned to his as well, confused. He'd had no idea that she was an orphan as well. And why did Voldemort have no effect on her?   
He looked up in time to see Nirry laugh at something George said. On the other side of the table, Ron and Hermnione were talking, their faces very close to each others'. Harry smiled at the two of them.   
"Yeah, they're so cute, aren't they?" a voice asked to the left of him. He turned to see Nirry's intense gaze upon his.   
"They are, aren't they?" he agreed. Nirry nodded.   
They sat back to watch the Halloween entertainment, a sort of circus with wizards dressed up asd skeletons and mummies directing their "pet" dogs and cats to do Stupid Human Tricks.   
Harry looked at them dreamily, not really registering what they were saying.   
Her eyes were so intense...   
  



	14. Harry Potter and the Barrier of Punishme...

Credits: All the references to Harry Potter, the world of Hogwarts and the magical community are J.K. Rowling's. All the rest are mine. 

Author's Note: I'm really sorry I haven't really written that long of chapters lately- or even any chapters... still, I AM very busy... and anyway, it's just shorter for ya to read, ain't it???? Okay, okay. I like reading loooong books myself, so tell me if you would like them longer. As in, review...:) One more thing- you might notice the similarities between Slatimnars and daemons (HDM), so just try not to mention that fact…

Another Author's Note: Guess what? I've just edited all my previous chapters of my B of P story, so they are better- not that they weren't great before… anyways, I made some minor changes in some of the plot, and some grammatical smoothing overs.So, if you want to, you can reread them and see what I did to them.Thanx!!!Don't forget to review (be a responsible reader and review- I luv that)

Chapter 14- (wow) 

Harry, Nirry, Hermione, and Ron were headed towards Care of Magical Creatures, where Hagrid came running up to them, beaming. 

"Yeh wouln' belive what's jes come in..." he panted, slapping a huge hand on Harry's shoulders, then patting it slightly as if to make up for the blow.

"Er- what's just come in, Hagrid?" Harry asked cautiously, rubbing his shoulder. Nirry could see Ron and Hermione suddenly glance nervously at the hut, and wondered what they were looking for. 

"Yeah, Hagrid, what's new?" she said nonchalantly. She then noticed Ron and Hermione staring at her, and whispered, "What?", as to not interrupt Hagrid and Harry.

"Remember what he brought in last year?" Hermione said, pitching her voice lower. "What we told you?Those Blast-Ended-"

"If yeh can jes gather roun' here... make room for them..." Hagrid raised his voice, and everyone gathered around him, trying to see what Hagrid had for this class. It had to be something dangerous, he looked so happy. Harry saw Parvati and Lavender whispering and then rasing their heads and smiling mysteriously.He rolled his eyes.They had probably predicted something related to him with Trelawney.

Hagrid went around the corner of his hut, then opened the paddock door.The class stood where it was, not wanting to go in where Hagrid's new creatures were.

"Whoa there!!! Hurry up out there!"Apprehensively, they crept over to where they could see the Hagrid's face, beaming.

Overcome with curiosity, Nirry looked at her friends strangely, then went up to the paddock.Harry could hear her gasp of surprise.

"Oh, wow, Hagrid!!! They're so beautiful!!!"With this, all the others came up to see what had made Nirry exclaim so vehemently. 

Mouths dropped open at the sight.There was silence until Malfoy, at the very end of the paddock, decided to break it."So Ms. Goody-goody Bumblebee thinks THOSE things are good-looking?Well, they would be, if she had to see Potter's face next to her every moment of the day."

Nirry jumped off the fence and replied in a scathingly cool tone of voice."I really feel sorry for you, you know?Not all people have to get out of bed every day to see YOUR face in the bathroom mirror."

Malfoy's face turned crimson, and while he was thinking of something to say, Nirry went back to look at the creatures.Nirry saw graceful, lithe cat-like creatures with wings, of all different colors, with nature's blends in their thick, lustrous coats.They seemed to melt into the shadows.

Harry saw strong, dragon-like scaly animals with the deepest blues of colors woven into their hides, gold and silver eyes looking around intelligently at their surroundings.

Hermione saw haughty, elegant creatures with the smartest of faces and the dignity of cats.

Ron gasped at what he saw- dog-like animals with feathery fur on them, all sniffing around at everything and with unmatched curiosity.

Hermione raised her hand."Hagrid?Are these Slatinmars?"

Hagrid looked around, amused at all the different reactions of the teenagers."Yep, they are.Shape-shifters, yeh see," he explained to the people looking quizzically at him."They're different to every person who see's 'em.They'll change to what they think is each person's taste.Closest things to your souls."

Malfoy, who was looking at slow, green lizards, gave a sound of disgust, and nearly flew off the fence when one of the lizards changed to a giant, eye-rolling mass of green.Harry nudged Nirry in the ribs, and together they laughed at him.

"Reckon he has some sort of slug," Ron said."Definitely slimy enough."

"Now, if ye'll jes stand by one of yer Slats, ye'll be able to see what everyone else's are!!!"Hagrid beamed at them, and the Gryffindors quickly slipped through the fence to the other side of the fence.The Slytherins followed more reluctantly, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle the last of all.

Nirry came to stand next to one of her winged cats, then waited for everyone else to get theirs.Harry, standing next to her, gave a gasp of surprise at the sight of her Slatinar, as did Nirry with Harry's.

"Wow!" they exclaimed at the same time.Hermione and Ron came to join them, leading their animals.There were more exclamations at their arrival.

The whole paddock seemed to be a mass of oohs and ahhhs.Lavender and Parvati were seen cooing over fluffy little bunny-like things with round eyes and short ears.

"Hey, look at Malfoy's." Nirry said in a low voice, after petting their own Slatinars and admiring the others.They all looked up to see a large, green lizard with black eyes staring around the paddock with suspicion, then transforming into a giant, round ball of green scales when someone else's Slatinar accidentally rubbed against Malfoy's robes.They laughed softly at them.

Ron gave a spurt of laughter."Look at Crabbe and Goyle's," he said, giggling to Hermione, and pointing to the big, drowsy twin hippopotamuses that stood next to Crabbe and Goyle. 

Hagrid cleared his throat and tried to hide a smile. "Now, the best thing abou' Slats, is, they're very competitive. Some more'n others, yeh can see, look at Malfoy's… anyways," he went on, "people race 'em agains' ech other's Slats and bet on the winners. Thought we'd do summat like that today."

Nirry frowned. Her cat Slatinmar was twitching it's ears back and forth, and Hermine's creature was pacing around nervously. Harry looked up casually and saw big, black clouds of steam rushing towards them. Somehow, he knew they weren't natural, for they were coming faster than speeding trains, and no natural clouds could move like that. Hagrid heard the rumbling sound and his face deepened into a thousand crinkles of worry.

"Well, looks like we're not gonna have the races today, so I'll save them for next class. If yeh'll jes come around to the covered paddock here, they'll stay dry till tomorrow…" his voice came to a stop as they could feel a cool wind raise goosebumps on their arms, and everyone hurried to leave their Slatinmars under the safe cover of the paddock.Hagrid anxiously herded them into a group, urging them to hurry to the castle before the ominous steam-shapes. 

Nirry ran to the paddock, last.Her Slarinmar was making towling noises similar to the sounds Cinnamonne made when she was scared.

A shrill whinny cut through the air, and Nirry hurried to deposit her Slat where it curled up and started to sleep, then went over to Cinnamonne, where Nirry ran a hand over her mare's neck soothingly. 

"What's the matter, girl?It's only a storm, okay?You remember storms, don't you?Remember that time at home-" Nirry gulped-" and you where in the stable and the lightning rod got hit by lightning?"Cinnamonne shook her head as if to disagree with her mistress.

CRACK!!!! A fist of lightning struck the ground in front of the paddock, and the horse reared high into the air.Nirry reached for the lead rope, trying to calm her, but with no avail.Nirry wondered where to take her, and tugged Cinnamonne's halter to walk outside.

Once outside, Nirry stood stock-still and looked around wildly, which made Cinnamonne prance around nervously.All around, there was nothing to be seen but a void of darkness.Dimly, Nirry could make out the black silhouettes of her fellow students nearly at the castle's front doors, but all other objects in the grounds were dark, misshapen shapes that looked like shadows.

Lightning scoured the ground every feet, not far from where Nirry stood with Cinnamonne.The horse tossed her head, looking around frantically at the blackness.Nirry tried to shout in the void but it was fruitless, and she vaulted upon Cinnamonne's back in order to reach the doors faster.

"Let's go!" Nirry yelled into Cinnamonne's ear, and tried to make out the direction of the castle.Cinnamonne half-reared, then went from a stop to a canter that went onto a gallop.Nirry gulped, and tried to slow her horse down, but the mare was in a frenzied run.Dimly, Nirry recalled that night at the burning barn, when she and Cinnamonne had had to flee from- Voldemort.

_Whack_!A tree branch slapped Nirry hard on the face, and she grabbed a handful of Cinnamonne's mane to keep from falling off, as Cinnamonne slowed to a fast trot, twisting and turning through an invisible trail and breathing heavily.Nirry struggled to keep consciousness, rain wetting her to the bone and making her teeth chatter.

Suddenly, realization slapped Nirry in the face as hard as the branch slapped Nirry: they were in the Forbidden Forest.

Alone.

  



	15. Harry Potter and the Barrier of Punishme...

HPand the Barrier of Punishment 14

Credits: All the references to Harry Potter, the world of Hogwarts and the magical community are J.K. Rowling's. All the rest are mine. 

Author's Note: I feel like a VERY BAD PERSON… I haven't written on this in like a month!!!!!! Sorry my people… and here it is.The 15th chapter.*grins*Oh, I AM a bad person… don't you HATE cliffies????' )hehe.^_^Well…

Chapter 15 

BOOM!!! With a loud, ringing noise, the doors to the Great Hall slammed shut.The Care of Magical Creatures class stood, shivering in still darkness- the storm, _no doubt related to Voldemort_, thought Harry uncomfortably, had temporarily flickered the castle's lights.Sure enough, a few seconds after they'd stood there, the lights wavered once and then blew back to life, revealing the shaken and sodden class, dripping on the clean stone of the floor.The class could hear angry footsteps coming their way.

"Hagrid!!!" Filch's mad voice came roaring towards them, though not as loud as the gale outside."PLEASE don't just STAND there!!!You know how LONG it takes me to clean a puddle like that???TWO HOURS OF _MY_VALUABLE TIME!!!Gone!!!Scrubbing away at a PUDDLE!!!"

Hagrid, who had been listening to the weather and frowning, gave a start."Righ'… everyone go to their common rooms, now- won' be havin' any more class in this storm now…"

Filch hovered, his face a bright pink."Students," he finally muttered, ignoring the pupils who were now leading their muddy tracks to their rooms.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione, at the front of the Gryffindor students, winced as they heard a spine-tingling yell from Filch.

"AND NOW WOULD YOU JUST LOOK AT _THIS_ MESS!!!!!!I'VE GOT ENOUGH WITH THIS PUDDLE, DO YOU THINK I CAN CLEAN ALL THIS ON MY OWN?!!!!!!Never again in my life…"

His voice receded slightly as they walked towards the Fat Lady.

"Screams like a girl, you reckon?" Ron said conversationally to his friends, earning a Look from Hermione." Er- a ninny…"

Harry gave a shrug as he and the others climbed into the almost-empty room. "Sure seems like he's got a lot to do… bet the storm's gonna go on for the night."At this, Hermione frowned.

She hesitated, then spoke."Somehow...We read about those kinds of clouds in Arithmancy… Scereny Magic. Pure black clouds mean…" She gave a significant look at Harry, who carried on.

"Right… I thought it was him, but I didn't feel anything on my scar…" Harry intoned, puzzling this out."Voldemort."

Ron shuddered."Stop saying the name!Nirry'd be likely to hear, and then she'll…"Ron stopped, staring at Harry, who had gone oddly still."What's up?"

"Where's Nirry?"Harry asked, his voice scared.Around the common room, they could see people doing homework, people starting to doze, people reading… but no Nirry.

"I don't know," Hermione said in an odd tone of voice."Wasn't she right behind us?"

They immediately got up towards the portrait hole, which by now was closed, cozily insulating the heat from the common room.Harry and Ron swung it open, causing Hermione to shiver at the gust of icy wind that came from the deserted corridors.

"Nirry?"Three voices spoke into the calm silence.There was no answer.

Harry went out onto the cold floor."Nirry?"he yelled."NIRRY?!!!!!!!!!!"

"Oh do be quiet!" snapped the Fat Lady.Hermione and Ron jumped a mile into the air."I was _dozing_, mind you.Your friend never came in tonight."

"What???!!!"cried Harry."But she was with us the whole time… wasn't she?"

Taking no notice of the cold, Harry started pacing.Ron looked awkward."Er- she _was with us during class…"_

"Right," Hermione said shakily."But-"

"She didn't come in with us?"Harry said, suddenly stopping."You reckon she's out there, freezing to death, in… in VOLDEMORT'S storm?"

"Would you kindly be quiet?_Most portraits SLEEP during storms.Not me, oh no… I have to stay awake, breaking up arguments and whatnot… you get in__side!!!You'll catch your deaths of a cold" -Harry suddenly swallowed- "and I'LL get the blame!!!Now scoot!"the portrait said very irritably, bundled up in a new, purple coat and yellow scarf._

_Click!The portrait shut, Harry, Hermione, and Ron inside.They stood, looking at each other helplessly, oblivious to the noise in the common room._

"She's out there."Harry said, whispering.He started shivering."Alone."

They stared somberly at him.

***

"Whoa!!!"Nirry's words were wiped from her mouth by the ten-buckets worth of water being poured on her.Cinnamonne had slowed slightly to navigate in the dense forest. "OW!!!Shit!!!!!"Nirry screamed, blindly swiping at a slimy branch that slapped her hard on the face.

Cinnamonne screamed- a hair-raising sound, one Nirry'd heard only once before, at a barn in Canada… 

Instantly, Nirry felt them both drop what felt like 10 feet down, into blurry and muddy, yet tree-free earth.She barely had time to scream before blackness enveloped her, casting a misty fog on her mind.

***

Away in a deserted mansion a hundred miles from Hogwarts, Lord Voldemort sat at a dinner table.

"Wormtail… more meat.Now!!!"

His servant scurried, obeying his master rapidly.Voldemort sat, munching, with an evil gleam of satisfaction in his eyes.

Peter, having done the task, stood timidly behind Voldemort's chair."Master, would you like more wine?"

Voldemort spun slowly, coming to a stop in front of Wormtail's nervous face."No, my faithful servant.My devoted servant.Wormtail.My most faithful slave."

Wormtail suppressed a thought of Bartemis Crouch, Jr.His master was in a good mood.No need to spoil it.

"You have, of course, been keeping up with my plans?"Voldemort said softly, looking with red eyes at Wormtail who was now very pale.

"Yes, master."

"Good.I must call my Death Eaters tomorrow- I must discuss them further." Voldemort paused. 

"Not now, my Lord?"Wormtail asked timidly.

"Silence! Do not spoil my mood."Voldemort took a breath, not noticing Wormtail's cringing."Not now.I can relax.Soon I will kill him.The storm is under way."

"Good… Milord," Wormtail murmured.

Voldemort gave a small laugh."Of course it's good."He stood up and walked to a table on which a small diagram lay.He stood there, six feet tall, red eyes, and an evil aura.

He took out his wand with gleaming white fingers and touched a part of the parchment.

The indiscernible lines became 3-D- a castle surrounded by clouds. 

It was an image of Hogwarts.

Magically and proportionately correct, the castle showed no signs of life on the grounds.Only minute black clouds gathered around the castle, blotting all lights and making the school's model seem suddenly small and defenseless.

Voldemort gave another slight chuckle."Potter comes out, and we leave Dumbledore helpless… no vision in my clouds.Owls, eliminated."

Wormtail ventured a question."How will we lure… ah- him- out?"

He gave a small sigh of relief- his master did not turn around and strike at him.Instead, Voldemort smiled.

"I believe it is time for my servant Malfoy to take part."

"Didn't… didn't he get thrown out as governor?"Wormtail whispered, steeling himself for a lashing.None came.

"No… it is time for his son learned the proper aspects of being devoted to a great wizard.He shall come tomorrow."

"The- the son, my Lord?"

Voldemort grinned."To learn of the plan.He lures Potter out, into the cover of the clouds.You take care of Dumbledore- we want him alive, don't we? Ah yes."He sneered."Can't be leaving the Mudbloods without a headmaster.Well.I take Potter, and we'll see for once and for all who the better wizard is."

Wormtail relaxed."You, milord."

"Precisely."

***

"Urgl…" Nirry came to only to find her legs covered in mud and slime.A weak whimper made her head go up.

Cinnamonne's legs, torso and behind were buried in muck.With a glance, Nirry could tell they were in deep, _deep_ trouble.As in, a hole in the ground.A man-made hole._Hagrid's hole, Nirry thought with a sardonic smile._

"What kind of thing needs a hole this big?" muttered Nirry.Then she groaned."Don't answer that."

Cinnamonne nickered.The mare's face was undamaged, yet dripping with water, which was still pouring down from the clouds in gallonfuls.

With a big SLURPing sound, Nirry managed to pull herself out of her mud bath.After a mental check for any injuries, she hurried over to Cinnamonne, who nickered pathetically.

"I know, girl… hang on, I'll get you out."

Nirry spotted a soggy branch hanging from a side of the three-walled hole.The fourth was stone.

Wrenching it out of the wet earth, Nirry dragged it over to Cinnamonne.

Within about 10 minutes, Cinnamonne was able to get forelegs out, and she thrashed them about, freeing the rest of her body.

"That's it, girl, come on, one more kick…"Nirry coached her mare, hands on knees, breathing lungfuls of water and air and wheezing.

_NEIGH!!!_Nirry's head snapped back up to the desperate whinny of her horse.Cinnamonne looked at her frantically, eyes rolling.

Nirry, with a gasp, saw the problem.Cinnamonne's left hind leg was at right angles from the rest of the leg- broken.

Nirry cursed, which made Cinnamonne throw her head back nervously.

"It's okay, it's okay… hang on… I think I learned this.Just one second."

Nirry's robes were caked with still-slippery mud, weighing her down considerably.She slipped them off, revealing Muggle jeans and T-shirt on top of mud-splattered tennis shoes.

"Oh I could just win a beauty contest right now," muttered Nirry as she rummaged around, looking for her wand.Amazingly, her wand was unbroken… and dry.

Nirry screwed her brain up."Okay.I can do this."

At that moment, they found out why the Hagrid's hole was so deep.

  



	16. Harry Potter and the Barrier of Punishme...

HPand the Barrier of Punishment 14

Credits: All the references to Harry Potter, the world of Hogwarts and the magical community are J.K. Rowling's. All the rest are mine. 

Author's Note: ::Stares evilly:: I shall torture all who wilt not reviewist myest chapter!!!!!!!!Pwease??? I'm sorry.It's been summer vacation for at least a month, I haven't written, and I should have.I am now.Review for my pains. *puppy dawg eyes* **Please**.That's an order.

Chapter 16 

*at the castle*

Hermione and Ron tried to keep up with Harry as he raced through the damp, echoing halls of the castle.

"Harry!!!" gasped Hermione, trying to run with a cramp in her side, "I can't believe we're doing this!!!The Fat Lady nearly expelled us!!!"

"Then again, she couldn't, she's a painting …" Ron muttered.

Harry paid no notice of either of them.He just kept running, looking for Dumbledore's office.Since the castle had kept moving for the last month or so, his office should just be right around the corner, _here_…

"Oh no not this again," Harry muttered."If only Nirry was here… she'd have the password…" and he swallowed.

Hermione stood with her hands on her knees."She's not here, she probably got lost or something inside the castle…"Ron gave a snort.

"Right… and where would she have gone?To Hogsmeade?" 

"All right-" Harry took a deep breath "- Fizzing Whizbees!!! Chocolate Frogs!!! Jumping Jelly Beams!!! Marmalade Minced Mangoes!!!"

Hermione and Ron were looking at him."Now, where'd _that_ come from?"Hermione asked him."Too much time in an American's influence."

"She's Canadian."Harry said shortly.Hermione shivered, Nirry's disappearance causing her to think, _please let us find her…_instinctively, she reached for Ron's waiting hand.Harry saw, and pretended not to.

"Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans!!!"burst out Ron, very red in the face.It might have been from the run, or it might have been the touch of Hermione's hand in his.

Lo and behold, the gargoyle sprang aside.Harry sent a puzzled look at Ron, but Ron was trying not to look at Hermione, who was as red as he, bnot looking at him, but at their entwined hands.

Shaking his head in disgust, Harry bounded up the steps ahead of them both.With Nirry gone- and he had a very bad feeling about this storm- his oldest and best friends were flirting.

_Knock._Harry knocked on the door once, and instantly, Dumbledore's twinkling voice came through the gap."Come in!!!"

Dumbledore was seated in a large, cushioned chair, behind his desk."Yes- I had an inkling it would be you all… come in, have a seat…"

Ron and Hermione sat in the chairs closest to each other, leaving Harry the third of the four chairs.He avoided the sight of Nirry's usual chair, and began voicing his thought.

"Professor… Nirry's missing.I think it's- she's in the storm right now, and…"

Dumbledore's feet, which had been on his desk, dropped with a loud thump."Right now?"The three somber faces answered his question."I must say…- all right."

He got up and started fluttering his hands nervously- Harry had never seen him like this before, and suddenly realized he was very fond of his daughter.Harry swallowed.If they didn't find her…

"We _will_ find her."Said Dumbledore slowly.Harry wondered if he could read minds… wouldn't be surprising, seeing as he WAS a great wizard and all that…Dumbledore looked at them sternly over the tops of his glasses."Now, I am going to send trained wizards from our Allies.Do not, and I repeat, do NOT on any circumstances go out of this school.Especially you, Mr. Potter.This storm- most likely… well, we shall worry about it later.You understand, clearly…Very well then, up to your dormitories, and I will see to it that she's found."

Harry, Ron and Hermione sat still, Dumbledore's voice washing over them.When he finished, they nodded their heads, and left the room silently.

***

A roar shook the ground on which both Nirry and Cinnamonne stood on.Nirry stood frozen, one hand clutching her wand.Very slowly, she turned around.

And almost fainted again.For there, not even five feet away, stood one of the most terrifying things she'd ever seen in her life… especially now, dripping wet, dirty, and holding a stick of green wood, a broken-legged animal on her hands.

Ten feet tall, it at first resembled Godzilla… but then Nirry got a sharp relief as the creature took a step.A dark purple, strangely gentle, sculpted, huge face and bright, yellow eyes lacking pupils looked at her silently, standing in the rain.

Nirry stood trembling on the spot."Please it ignore me… please God, I'll do anything, just let it ignore me..."

However, the next thing the animal did was to take two more steps towards the fear-radiating pair of human and horse.Cinnamonne's eyes were rolling, red showing in the whites of the eyes.The pain of her leg kept her from jumping out into total horse frenzy, which probably saved her life.

"Do not move," the thing said in a surprisingly smooth, silky voice."Do not move."And it pounced.Nirry closed her eyes and prayed it would be quick._What a stupid way to die._Her heart beat furiously, as if to make up for the years in the future when it would never beat. _Stupid._

A second later, she heard another roar from the beast, this time behind her.With a tingle of shock- she wasn't dead- she regarded the scene in front of her in open-mouthed amazement.

The Godzilla-like creature was locked in fierce battle with a tangle of weeds.The weeds were almost totally wrapped around the belly of the thing, and were trying to choke it- or give it a Heimlich maneuver.

"Holy moly… this is… way too much…" she said weakly, gazing at the fight, whose yells, screams of pain, and thumps were nearly muffled by the rain.Cinnamonne whimpered, fright showing in every nerve of her body.Nirry, as if her brain was being continuously washed by the ever-increasing rage of the strom, was oblivious to everything except the rolling tangle of purple skin and green stems, and so gave a huge jump of surprise when she heard Cinnamonne- and fell hard onto her butt.

"I'm sorry girl…"she whispered… coming to her senses fast while rubbing her now muck-encrusted behind."Come on, let's get out of here while they're at it…"

Cinnamonne's frightened face nudged Nirry's, reminding her mistress of a certain broken leg.

"Oh right… I'm so sorry!!!"Nirry shook her wand a little, found it was clean and wet, and proceeded to straighten her mare's leg.

"_Mendaficus_!" she whisper-yelled, trying to see where to aim- Cinnamonne's hind leg.Luckily, the pink light burst out at the same time Cinnamonne slipped a little down into the mud-lined hole, and the straightening spell hit her full-blast.

The horse screamed in pain.Nirry's hands went up… "My God, girl… I'm sorry… is it okay?"

She seemed to hear the strangled thumps from above, and remembered her position."Let's get to the castle before we're something else's lunch…"

***

Harry paced the common room, wringing his hands and looking out at every window he passed.They had no more than five inches of visibility outside, given the rain coming down in bucketfuls. 

"Harry, come on!!!Lighten up, play some Exploding Snap with us!!!"Fred and George yelled across to him from where they sat with a group, playing the game.George grinned."Here- take you mind off things, Harry, have a Jumping Dust Bunny."

_They don't know about Nirry, _he thought… then sighed.Dumbledore said he'd find her… _but what if this storm is really… _he looked at the gray-colored white/black chocolate George had given him, and took a bite, completely forgetting their Ton-Tongued Toffees last year and Dudley's unfortunate experience, or the Canaries that gave Neville a feathery shock, or the-

Fred and George grinned. 

***

Professor Albus Dumbledore did not waste much time after the trio left.Soon, pacing around his study were Professors Snape, McGonagall, and Hagrid.

They looked at him when he cleared his throat.

"Nirry has disappeared."

They stared at him. 

"This is what we must do to recover her from Voldemort's storm."

Apart from three flinches, the figures did not move. 

"Yes, Professor."

Dumbledore proceeded to give them their instructions, and sent them off to their own missions.This done, he walked out of the castle.Into the rain.

***

Voldemort looked into the pool.Amid the misty rain conjured by him, he saw a tall, white-haired and -bearded figure walk into the gloom.

He smiled.

  



End file.
